Show of hands: Who believes in the “payback” dimension of a team playing against his former team? It seemed to work last week, when DeSean Jackson played through a shoulder injury and had a big game against the Eagles. But do those kind of players really tend to bring a little something extra to the table when they’re matched up against their former team?
After all, you could reasonably conclude that the guys left behind on the former team would in theory be more interested in stopping the returning star.
There’s another one of these big games this weekend, with Steve Smith going against the team that kicked him to the curb in the offseason. Smith, like Jackson, seems to be a player who increases his level of play in such situations. As well as he’s playing, Smith is certainly a guy to plug into a fantasy lineup this week.
But in these kind of situations, best not to widen the search and look at a larger sample of data. I went back to 2002, the year they went to 32 teams, and made note of all the big-time type receivers getting to play for the first time against their previous team.
There are some games where the player seemed to be extra motivated and really on his game. Deion Branch, for example, didn’t do much of anything when he was in Seattle, but when he got a shot at the Patriots, he was flying around and caught a pair of touchdowns. Same with Robert Meachem (who switched from New Orleans to San Diego).
Anquan Boldin seemed to be on a mission when he played against Arizona for the first time. He didn’t have a great first season in Baltimore, but in his game against the Cardinals, he caught 7 passes for 145 yards.
On the flip side, there have been plenty of similar kinds of situations where the affected receiver didn’t do much of anything. Terrell Owens flopped in his first game back at Philadelphia. Three superstar-type receivers came back to play Pittsburgh, and none of them had more than 40 yards – Santonio Holmes, Plaxico Burress and Mike Wallace.
The overall numbers, in my opinion, don’t add clarity to the situation. Of the last 30 of these kind of receivers, they’ve averaged 59 yards per game. 11 of the 30 have scored. If you had a full season’s worth of these kind of receivers (one guy playing 16 games) it would translate into 67 catches, 944 yards and 8 TDs. Good, but not super special.
| ELITE RECEIVERS IN FIRST GAME AGAINST FORMER TEAM | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player, Team | Opp | No | Yds | Avg | TD |
| 2002 | Jerry Rice, Oak. | S.F. | 6 | 74 | 12.3 | 0 |
| 2002 | Terry Glenn, G.B. | N.E. | 3 | 19 | 6.3 | 0 |
| 2003 | Keenan McCardell, T.B. | Jac. | 8 | 74 | 9.3 | 0 |
| 2004 | Joe Horn, N.O. | K.C. | 5 | 167 | 33.4 | 1 |
| 2005 | Terrell Owens, Phil. | S.F. | 5 | 143 | 28.6 | 2 |
| 2005 | Derrick Mason, Balt. | Tenn. | 8 | 60 | 7.5 | 1 |
| 2005 | Muhsin Muhammad, Chi. | Car. | 6 | 49 | 8.2 | 1 |
| 2006 | Terrell Owens, Dall. | Phil. | 3 | 45 | 15.0 | 0 |
| 2006 | Keyshawn Johnson, Car. | Dall. | 1 | 19 | 19.0 | 0 |
| 2007 | Randy Moss, N.E. | Oak. | 5 | 67 | 13.4 | 2 |
| 2007 | Santana Moss, Wash. | NYJ | 4 | 49 | 12.3 | 0 |
| 2008 | Deion Branch, Sea. | N.E. | 4 | 88 | 22.0 | 2 |
| 2008 | Bernard Berrian, Minn. | Chi. | 6 | 81 | 13.5 | 1 |
| 2008 | Isaac Bruce, S.F. | St.L. | 1 | 20 | 20.0 | 0 |
| 2008 | Plaxico Burress, NYG | Pitt. | 3 | 15 | 5.0 | 0 |
| 2009 | Torry Holt, Jac. | St.L. | 5 | 101 | 20.2 | 0 |
| 2009 | Laveranues Coles, Cin. | NYJ | 3 | 19 | 6.3 | 0 |
| 2010 | Brandon Marshall, Mia. | Den. | 6 | 61 | 10.2 | 0 |
| 2010 | Santonio Holmes, NYJ | Pitt. | 6 | 40 | 6.7 | 0 |
| 2011 | Anquan Boldin, Balt. | Ariz. | 7 | 145 | 20.7 | 0 |
| 2012 | Robert Meachem, S.D. | N.O. | 3 | 67 | 22.3 | 2 |
| 2012 | Brandon Lloyd, N.E. | St.L. | 2 | 28 | 14.0 | 2 |
| 2012 | Sidney Rice, Sea. | Minn. | 4 | 54 | 13.5 | 1 |
| 2012 | Brandon Lloyd, N.E. | Den. | 3 | 34 | 11.3 | 0 |
| 2012 | Vincent Jackson, T.B. | S.D. | 5 | 59 | 11.8 | 0 |
| 2013 | Wes Welker, Den. | N.E. | 4 | 31 | 7.8 | 0 |
| 2013 | Mike Wallace, Mia. | Pitt. | 2 | 19 | 9.5 | 0 |
| 2013 | Percy Harvin, Sea. | Minn. | 1 | 17 | 17.0 | 0 |
| 2013 | Greg Jennings, Minn. | G.B. | 1 | 9 | 9.0 | 0 |
| 2014 | DeSean Jackson, Wash. | Phil. | 5 | 117 | 23.4 | 1 |
—Ian Allan