With the release of the full 2026 NFL schedule, excitement and anticipation for the season starts in earnest. To further fuel the hype, we’ve gathered together a handful of Game Replays to highlight the most memorable past iterations of matchups on the 2026 schedule.
In this particular article, you’ll find the best prime-time games from the NFL+ Game Replay rolodex -- memorable contests from the last 17 seasons -- that aired for the whole country to enjoy. All you need to rewatch these classics is an NFL+ Premium subscription, which grants access to full and condensed game replays of every NFL game of the season, along with NFL RedZone, All-22 film and access to NFL Pro.
Entering last season, the Bills and Ravens were two of the Super Bowl favorites from the AFC. They were led by the previous two league MVPs -- Lamar Jackson (2023) and Josh Allen (2024) -- and had just met in the 2024 Divisional Round (with Buffalo winning 27-25). So their Week 1 meeting at Highmark Stadium on Sunday Night Football was highly anticipated, to say the least. Boy, did it deliver. Despite scoring an opening drive touchdown, the Bills fell behind in the first half and eventually trailed by as many as 15 points late in the third quarter. A baffling three failed two-point conversions by Allen and one missed extra point by Ravens kicker Tyler Loop kept the score intriguing through the entirety of the second half. But Buffalo outscored Baltimore 22-6 in the fourth quarter, including a game-winning, 32-yard field goal by Matt Prater to seal the win as time expired.
Lamar Jackson tossed a pair of touchdowns and added 70 yards and another score on the ground, while Derrick Henry rumbled for 169 yards and two TDs of his own … though his costly fumble with three minutes left in the game opened the door Buffalo would use to snatch the victory from the jaws of defeat. Meanwhile, Allen totaled 424 yards of offense with two touchdowns each passing and rushing, helped in large part by a breakout game from NFL sophomore Keon Coleman. Cris Collinsworth exclaimed in the final minutes that the game could end up being “one of the all-time all-timers.” I think he was right.
Heading into Sunday Night Football in Week 12, 2013, Tom Brady and Peyton Manning had already clashed 13 times in their storied careers. Brady held a dominant 9-4 advantage, but this was their first meeting with Manning as a Bronco … and a foretaste of the coming AFC Championship Game. It was 22 degrees and blustery in Foxborough for the 8:30 p.m. ET kickoff and the winds of change seemed to favor Denver early, as Von Miller housed a Stevan Ridley fumble 60 yards for a touchdown to crush New England’s opening possession. The Broncos then scored again … and again ... and again, to take a 24-0 lead into halftime.
But, of course, this is Tom Brady we’re talking about. He led the Patriots to five straight scoring drives coming out of halftime, including two TD passes to Julian Edelman and one to Rob Gronkowski, to put New England in front 31-24. Then Manning answered back with a touchdown to Demaryius Thomas that ultimately sent the game to overtime. In a fascinating twist, despite overtime rules that still awarded a victory if the team to receive the kickoff scored a TD on the opening possession, Bill Belichick and the Patriots decided to “take the wind” and kick off to Denver. And it worked. The Broncos couldn’t get into field goal range on either of their two overtime possessions, and when the Pats punted at the end of their second drive, Denver special teamer Tony Carter made the critical error of contacting the loose punt, resulting in a Patriots recovery and a walk-off chip shot for Stephen Gostkowski.
Aaron Rodgers versus Matthew Stafford on Thursday Night Football is a pretty solid recipe for greatness and this matchup did not disappoint. The 7-4 Packers entered the game as favorites over the 4-7 Lions, but Detroit was riding a three-game winning streak that started with a huge upset over Green Bay less than a month prior. And a second upset started to look extremely likely, as the Lions built a 20-0 lead deep into the third quarter. But then, as he so frequently does, Rodgers started Rodgersing.
Over the last five Packers drives, the reigning MVP completed 13 of 20 passes for 193 yards and two touchdowns. The first Green Bay points came on a James Starks fumble that Randall Cobb recovered in the end zone and a strip-sack by Julius Peppers on the next play from scrimmage set up a Davante Adams TD mere minutes later. Still, a third Matt Prater field goal in the fourth quarter seemed to put the Lions' lead just out of reach and the Packers eventually resorted to a “pitchy-pitchy-woo-woo” play as time expired … until a facemask penalty granted them one last untimed down. The 32-year-old Rodgers would have to uncork a 61-yard Hail Mary to have a chance. He threw it an unofficial 68 air yards and tight end Richard Rodgers snagged it out of the sky to complete “The Miracle in Motown” in one of the wildest regular-season finishes we’ve ever seen.
This was a game absolutely stuffed with storylines. Game of the year on paper. Division rivalry. Undefeated 49ers (8-0) and their league-best defense versus MVP frontrunner Russell Wilson and the Seahawks (7-2). Former Seattle cornerback Richard Sherman now a captain for the Red and Gold. Former backup Jimmy Garoppolo in his first year as a full-time starter. Rookie kicker Chase McLaughlin signed off the couch to play his first game with the 49ers.
Somehow, incredibly, the game lived up to the billing. The Niners jumped out to a 10-0 lead, but Seattle quickly countered with a 21-0 run entering the fourth quarter. Then, respectfully, all hell broke loose when Arik Armstead knocked the ball from Wilson’s grasp, into the hands of right tackle Germain Ifedi, where it was quickly Peanut Punched by Fred Warner and bounded into the hands of DeForest Buckner, who returned it the 12 remaining yards into the end zone.
From there, McLaughlin and Seahawks kicker Jason Myers traded field goals like heavyweights trading haymakers, culminating with San Fran’s waiver pickup nailing a 47-yarder with one second remaining to send the game to overtime. After a Wilson interception, missed McLaughlin field goal and two punts, the ‘Hawks finally drove into 49ers territory -- thanks to an 18-yard scramble by their 30-year-old QB -- and Myers snuck a 42-yard, walk-off field goal just inside the right upright to hand the Niners their first loss of the season.
The final contest of the first 17-game season was teed up for drama well before the Sunday Night Football kickoff. Both the Chargers and Raiders were 9-7 entering Week 18 and a win by either team would have clinched a playoff berth and eliminated the other. But there was also a wild contingency. If the game were to miraculously end in a tie, both the Chargers and Raiders would have made the postseason, eliminating the Steelers instead. But … that would never happen, right? Right?!
That tie came as close as conceivably possible to taking place. After trailing by 15 points with under five minutes remaining, the Chargers knotted the score at 29-29 at the end of regulation, thanks to yet another connection between Justin Herbert and Mike Williams. Then both Daniel Carlson and Dustin Hopkins nailed field goals of 40+ yards in overtime, sending the contest to a third OT drive. Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth spent much of the final possession trying to sort through the mindsets of both head coaches -- Brandon Staley and interim hero Rich Bisaccia -- while “Take the Tie” signs flashed in the crowd. Eventually Vegas drove to L.A.’s 29-yard line and stopped the clock with two seconds remaining, rather than allowing time to expire for the playoff-clinching tie. Finally, Carlson cranked a 47-yard game-winner, prompting Michaels to state matter-of-factly, “Raiders in. Chargers out. Steelers in.” It was, and will likely always remain, one of the more mind-bending finishes in NFL history.
I was at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for this Monday Night Football game and would confidently agree with those who have labeled it the most exciting regular season game in NFL history. Both teams entered the game at 9-1 and the contest was viewed as a potential Super Bowl preview before it even started. (Incidentally it ended up being one overtime coin flip away from the actual Super Bowl LIII matchup.) Coming into Week 11, second-year QB sensation Patrick Mahomes was shredding the league and second-year head coach Sean McVay had turned the Rams into the second coming of the Greatest Show on Turf.
Starting with the very first drive, Mahomes and Jared Goff put on a duel for the ages, eventually combining for 891 yards and 10 touchdowns through the air. No, those aren’t typos. Tyreek Hill racked up 215 yards and two TDs on his own, Aaron Donald strip-sacked Mahomes twice and unheralded Rams linebacker Samson Ebukam housed a pair of defensive touchdowns. There was a score of some kind every three-and-a-half minutes of game time on average, en route to a record-breaking 54-51 win for Los Angeles. It remains the only game in NFL history in which each team scored 50+ points and is still the third-highest scoring game overall (105 points). If you like points -- and who doesn’t -- this is arguably the most rewatchable game ever put to tape.