In this week’s ESPN Magazine, there is mention of the NFC Central rivalries: Packers-Lions. Lions-Bears. Packers-Vikings.
I thought the big Central Division rivalry was Packers-Bears? Am I wrong?
What is the biggest rivalry in the NFL? Raiders-Chiefs? 49ers-Rams? Dolphins-Jets? Personally, I think it’s the Cowboys-Redskins
What is your favorite team’s biggest rival? As a Bears fan, I hate losing to the Pack more than the Lions, as ESPN inferred. Who do Raider fans hate the most? The Chiefs? Broncos? Seahawks? Is there still a Bengals-Browns rivalry or do Brownie fans hate the Ravens even more? And does anyone really care about the Buccaneers?
I’m an Eagles fan, and our number one rival is Dallas. No question about it. The Giants and the Redskins are a close second and third, and a bit further back, in fourth place, are the Steelers (it’s a Pennsylvania thing).
The NFC East is a mutual hatefest with the Eagles, Redskins, Cowboys, and Giants. The Cardinals are there for two potential wins a year for each team, and that’s about it.
I think the biggest rivalry league-wide is Bears/Packers.
I’m a huge Giants fan (I decided to like NY sports teams even though I grew up in MA to be different) and it varies who the Giants hate most at the time, and most often it’s the division leader (or second place team if the G-men are in first). Personally, I’ll always hate the Eagles because I was there for the “Miracle at the Meadowlands.” I especially hate Herman Edwards.
As for other divisions, these are what I see as the main rivalries
AFC East: Jets vs. Pats
AFC Central: Steelers vs. Browns
AFC West: Raiders vs. NFL
NFC East: Giants vs. Eagles
NFC Central: Vikings vs. Packers
NFC West: Err, those 20 years of dominance by the 49ers pretty much destroyed any competition, and therefore any rivalries.
It seems that no matter how good/bad the other team is, they have at least one good game every year.
For example, 1989… Skins (10-6 that year) were handed a loss by the hapless Cowboys under new coach Jimmy Johnson at RFK. The Cowboys finished the season 1-15. A great game it was.
(So what if I still revel in a 12 year-old victory?)
Well, we cheeseheads hate the Vikings with a passion. But that’s relatively new, and it’s always tempered by the fact that they’ve never one the big one, while we have, a dozen times. And the Lions are a biannual pain in the arse. But no matter how bad the season’s been, if we beat the Bears twice it’s a success, and if we split with them, it’s not a complete loss. The flatlanders are just so much more annoying than the Minnesooootans.
Qadgop the Packerfan
(I shook Bart Starr the quarterback’s hand on the field after a game once!)
Another Packer fan here. Personally, I find Viking fans to be much more obnoxious. Don’t get me wrong, I love the GB-Chi rivalry, it’s the best in football. But of late I’ve noticed that Bears fans are a hell of a lot tamer than Vikings fans, especially since the Bears have been bottom feeders for, what, 10 years now? Vikings fans, on the other hand, just never shut up, even when they get beat pretty bad. I’ll hand it to 'em, though- they keep the rivalry interesting.
As for a division-by-division rivalry, I see the top one as such:
NFC East: Dallas-Washington. Maybe just because that one gets all the press. NFC Central: Green Bay-Chicago. The grandaddy of all NFL rivalries. It usually doesn’t matter who’s better. Usually. NFC West: Are there any? No, really, are there? AFC East: Miami-Buffalo. Just because it got so nasty the past decade. AFC Central: Cleveland-Pittsburgh. Even if it’s the Browns 2.0 vs. the Steelers, it’s still an old one. AFC West: Oakland-Denver-K.C. Sure, it’s a three way, but that’s the way it works sometimes.
As a 49er fan, I’ll chime in with a sort of. The problem really has been the sheer mediocrity of the division as a whole. How could you really hate a team which has a winning season once every five years. Not to mention the distance between teams (Atlanta, Carolina, New Orleans in the West? :rolleyes: PLEASE.) The only real rivalry is 49ers-Rams, which will be the only one left after the reorganization next year. It suffered when the Niners won 16 or 17 in a row in the nineties, and the Rams are now running up the score on the Niners twice yearly for it, but its the closest thing we’ve got. Personally I’ve got more animosity for the Cowboys and Packers, but since we’re keeping this division specific…
They are a good team, son, they have the leading defense in the league, and a damn good offense to boot.
ANYWAYS
AHEM
The Pack-Bucs
is a pretty big game, but it’s usually just a fun type of rivalry, the Battle of the Bays.
I don’t know about any serious rivalries between the Bucs, but if you ask again if anyone really cares about the Buccaneers, I will track you down and murder you.
:::fixes hair:::
I am a Viking fan. My SO is a Packer fan. Living in a border town, I see the Vikes-Pack rivalry firsthand…it gets wild. And Semp, it goes both ways. Those Packer fans never shut up, even when they don’t make the playoffs.
AHHHHEM! Excuse me, Madam Buck, but the Titans and the Ravens have the leading defenses in the league. Tennesse best overall, but don’t try to run or score on Baltimore. And, oh, BTW, that’s the World Champion Baltimore Ravens. How many rings do the Bucks have?
Our rivals? Kinda tough.
Cleveland: They are kinda rivals, but the Clowns suck, and the whole damn city just whines too much to take them seriously.
Pittsburgh: Good rivals because Stiller fans are just so pathetically obnoxious that they are entertaining.
Indiana-noplace: For obvious reasons. They are welcome to the team, but GIVE US OUR FUCKING NAME AND HISTORY BACK, YOU BASTARDS.
The real pity is that the NFL is too shortsighted to put us in the NFC East with our natural rivals, Philly and especialy the Foreskins. If they did that, I guaran-fucking-tee you that w/i 10 years, Balto/DC would be the #1 rivalry in sports, period.
As it stands, Prolly Tennessee and to a lesser extent, Jacksonville.
I totally agree with you. Our Pewter Pirates don’t get enough respect.
Bucs/Dolphins is going to be a rivalry in my house. I’m a Bucs fan,and my fiance is a Dolphins fan. We were at the preseason game a few weeks back where the Dolphins won with 9 seconds left. The ride home was not fun, let me tell you.
I can’t think of a big Bucs rivalry either. I don’t even have a “household” rivalry. lurker roots for the Jets, but I don’t think we’ll come to blows over any of the games.
I’ve gotta admit, though, I miss my old College Rivalry games. No one up here to argue the Gator/Noles games with!
Although Wierddave is right, the Bucs defense did slide last year and [sub]almost convicted felon[/sub] Ray Lewis did lead one of the best defenses the NFL has ever seen.
That said, I only with the NFC Central were patsy central like the AFC Central currently is. I mean, 4 gimmes a year against the Browns and Bengals. Come on. Granted, the Titans are good, but it remains to be seen how *the team that robbed Cleveland * will do this year without a running back and only one decent receiver.
The Bucs and Packers can’t match the long standing traditional rivalries like Pack/Bears, just not enough tradition yet. Although it was quite amusing when on their first visit the Bucs were called Tampa (sans Bay) and when the Packers next visited Tampa Stadium they were called just Green. In the past five years its been a great game, but until the Bucs can take a few on the frozen tundra…
Though FANS may still get excited about rivalries between the Chief-Raiders, or Redskins-Cowboys, I get the feeling that old-fashioned rivalries, fueled by genuine hatred, are pretty much a thing of the past. Credit/blame free agency for that.
In the early 70s, the idea of a player or coach leaving the Raiders for the Chiefs seemed blasphemous… but Marcus Allen did it and nobody batted an eyelash. Deion Sanders and Norv Turner saw no problem in leaving the Cowboys for the Redskins. I mean, do you REALLY think any player would refuse an obscenely rich contract from a team he once thought of as a rival?
On the field, players give their all to beat whomever they’re playing, but they’re smart and realistic enough to know that football is a business, that the guy they’re trying to kill today may be a teammate tomorrow, and I don’t think players feel the same hostility to any particular team that they once did.
For THAT kind of intense rivalry, you have to look to college football.
While I believe this mostly true, in two of the examples you noted, and another I’ll add, I think the rivalry thing came into play at least a bit. The other one would be Mike Shanahan and the Raiders / Broncos. In that case, plus with Norv Turner and Marcus Allen, the people involved had to feel as if they had been used or sold down the river by their former team. Norv Turner’s relationship with Snyder could be described as tepid as best. Shanahan is still owed money, IIRC, from Al Davis. And Marcus Allen was allegedly benched during his prime by Al Davis. What better way to get retribution than to suit up with the “enemy”.
As for players doing there best every week, just watch Brett Favre and Warren Sapp go at it this year. Both are among their best at their position in the game. When they play each other, the jawing never ceases (okay, Sapp never shuts up, but…) They are in each others face constantly. This adds a lot to their games, since they are trying to show each other up. Interestingly they seem to be pretty good friends off the field, but its like having a good friend that you play in tennis, you always want to come out on top.
You do understand that I have to put you on the list, now.
Speaking as a MN resident, I like the Packers-Vikings rivalry, except when idiots on either side ruin it as Boscibo said. At a wedding reception last weekend, I ended up talking football with two Packers fans. They laughed at the drafting of Michael Bennett; I responded that Dennis Green’s had great success drafting offensively lately. They said that he can’t draft a defense if his life depended on it; I commented that the Packers will probably do well as long as they get Favre back on the painkillers. They asked how many Super Bowls the Vikings won in the 90s; I drew a connection between their parentage and goats.
I cried when I saw that game. I wish death upon that rookie 3rd string QB from Miami. Yeah yeah, I know, it was just a preseason game, but still…
We certainly don’t get enough respect. With the addition of Tony Dungy a few years back our team has gotten so much better, he is an awesome coach.
We have so many star players, Warren Sapp, Warrick Dunn, John Lynch, Derrick Brooks, Mike Alstott, Martin Gramattica, Shaun King, (even though I hate to admit it) Keyshawn Johnson, and so many more.
I think Miami/Tampa Bay is the only big rivalry I can think of, but then again Tampa Bay hasn’t been a great team for very long, so any rivalries we’ve has weren’t serious.
Had to drive down to Kentucky to watch the game last night. There was one point where Sapp had his helmet off and he had just given a big hug to one of the Patriots, {maybe Bledsoe} and he is just talking and talking. He never stops, it’s amazing, I think it’s his source of power or something.
ladyfoxfyre, I assume you already have one, but if not let me know and I will send you a Bucs jersey to wear while you watch the games this year.
