Plenty of revenge at stake in Washington Football Team vs. Lions

There are plenty of revenge games happening in the Washington Football Team’s game vs. the Lions.

In almost any NFL game, there is some element of revenge going on. Because rosters shuffle around so much, there is almost always at least one player or one coach facing off against their former teams or a former teammate. And the Washington Football Team’s game against the Detroit Lions is no different.

Washington and Detroit aren’t rivals. Maybe there’s a bit of resentment on the Lions’ side of things since they lost to Washington in 2018 when Josh Johnson was the quarterback of the team, but the teams themselves don’t have bad blood. That said, there are a few players that could be looking to get vengeance against their former organizations on Sunday.

Notably, Adrian Peterson is getting to face Washington for the first time since they elected to cut him in August. Washington elected to go young at the RB position with Antonio Gibson, Peyton Barber, J.D. McKissic, and Bryce Love being kept around by the squad. That left Peterson briefly unemployed, but he found work with the Lions fast.

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Facing his old team, Peterson could be motivated to show that he still has something left in the tank and that Washington was wrong to cut him. Peterson isn’t having a great season and has been losing playing time to D’Andre Swift in recent weeks, but if ever there was a time that the Lions could use a big game from him, this would be it.

Of course, it’s worth noting that Peterson had a revenge game last week against the Vikings and totaled just 43 yards against them, so getting going may not be easy for him. Still, the desire for revenge against Washington is fresher than any resentment he may harbor for the Vikings, so the motivation could be there for Peterson.

On Washington’s side of the ball, they actually have two players on their offense that played for the Lions last year, McKissic and Logan Thomas. Both of these players could be motivated to have nice games as well.

McKissic’s revenge angle is probably bigger than Thomas’. McKissic was an important part of Detroit’s running back rotation last year, but they opted to move on from him this offseason and pursued Swift in the draft and Peterson after he was cut to bolster their position group.

McKissic may want to show the Lions that they were wrong not to bring him back as he could’ve been a key receiver for them out of the backfield. While Swift has emerged as a solid receiver, the Lions have also been using Kerryon Johnson in that role, but McKissic would be a better fit in that type of role than Johnson. He can remind Detroit of that by catching a lot of passes and doing damage against a defense that has allowed nearly 1,500 total yards to RBs this year.

Meanwhile, Thomas was a third-string option in Detroit but has been given a chance to start in Washington. He could try to put together a big game to show the Lions that they let a quality role player walk in free agency. While he’s probably better served as a top backup, he has still proven to be a solid, cheap pickup for Washington and has been a red-zone threat in recent weeks.

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Maybe nothing will come of these revenge games, but it is always interesting to see players go up against their former organizations. With the wounds of departure still fresh for these three players, they should be motivated to produce even if they harbor no ill will toward their former team.

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