The Old Guard Strikes Back: Rodgers, Montana, Brady, and the Sweetness of Beating the Team That Let You Go

Aaron Rodgers delivered a message in Week 1 of the 2025 NFL season.

He tossed four touchdown passes in a 34–32 comeback victory over the New York Jets, and a postgame smirk that said everything the box score didn’t. At 41, in his debut with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Rodgers reminded the league (and his old team) that the fire still burns, his arm still works, and his edge remains sharp.

In postgame interviews, he didn’t hide the satisfaction. “I was happy to beat everybody associated with the Jets,” Rodgers said, twisting the knife just enough. It was a vintage Rodgers performance, wrapped in revenge, punctuated by purpose.

And it wasn’t the first time we’ve seen this kind of story.

When great quarterbacks are cast aside, they don’t always walk away quietly. Sometimes they circle dates, intent to prove they still belong in front of the team that told them they didn’t.

Rodgers’ revenge joins a lineage of iconic moments authored by legendary quarterbacks. Joe Montana had his say against the 49ers. Tom Brady returned to Foxborough and left with a win.

Let’s rewind the tape.

Joe Montana’s Night in Kansas City

The date was September 11, 1994, and the stakes were higher than most regular season games.

Joe Montana, at 38 years old, slipped on a Kansas City Chiefs uniform. Their opponent that day would be the San Francisco 49ers, the team Montana had led to its first four Super Bowl titles, before leadership handed the reins to Steve Young.

Montana vs. Young was a generational collision. But, in the end, the old master had one last lesson to teach.

Montana threw for two touchdowns and steered the Chiefs to a 24–17 win, outdueling his successor in a game that was equal parts strategic and symbolic. For a few hours on that Sunday night, time bent in Montana’s favor. He was still a difference-maker.

And while Montana never said much publicly about his exit from San Francisco, his play that night said enough. He could still win big games, and he didn’t need to be in scarlet and gold to do it.

Tom Brady’s Foxborough Homecoming

On Oct. 3, 2021, all eyes turned to Foxborough. After 20 seasons, six Super Bowl titles, and an unparalleled run of dominance, Tom Brady came back to New England — not as the face of the Patriots, but as the leader of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

It was a wet, tense, tightly contested game. The Patriots, behind rookie quarterback Mac Jones, gave Brady everything he could handle. But like he’d done so many times before, Brady managed the moment. With the kind of calm precision that had defined his career, Brady guided the Bucs to a narrow 19–17 win.

He left with just a quick nod to the crowd and a quiet walk off the field. The win made him one of the rare quarterbacks to defeat all 32 NFL teams, a full-circle moment for the most accomplished player the league has ever seen.

If Montana’s return was symbolic and Rodgers’ was emotional, Brady’s was clinical. He let the scoreboard do the talking.

Three Legends, One Timeless Statement

Aaron Rodgers. Joe Montana. Tom Brady.

Each was let go by the team that once built itself around him. Each was told, either directly or indirectly, that the future no longer included them. And each returned, in a different jersey, to hand their former team a loss they wouldn’t soon forget.

These were moments of personal reckoning. Rodgers came back with fire, Montana with quiet authority, Brady with cold precision. But each played with an unshakable refusal to be defined by anyone else’s timeline.

In a league obsessed with youth and upside, these three icons reminded us that there’s no expiration date on greatness.