Sunday’s game between the Los Angeles Rams and New Orleans Saints isn’t just a matchup of the NFC’s two best teams. It’s also a revenge game for Los Angeles defensive coordinator Wade Phillips — kind of.
Phillips served as interim head coach for the Saints for four games of the 1985 season. He was not retained when the season ended. He joked on Thursday that because of that, Sunday is now a revenge game.
Wade Phillips says this weekend is "another revenge game for me" because he was the Saints' interim head coach for 4 games in 1985 and then "they shipped me out of there. I'm still mad at them." He is not really mad and it is not really a revenge game.
— Greg Beacham (@gregbeacham) November 1, 2018
Phillips actually did have a rather lengthy tenure in New Orleans.
His father, Bum Phillips, was the Saints head coach from 1981-1985. Through that entire run, Wade served as the defensive coordinator. With four games remaining in the 1985 season, Bum resigned and his son finished the season as the head coach.
In the four games under the younger Phillips, the Saints were 1-3. The one win, however, came against his current employer, the Rams.