Steelers Rivalry vs. Patriots has 3 Suspicious Details that Warrant an Asterisk

The Pittsburgh Steelers and New England Patriots are two of the most successful NFL franchises of the millennium, with the Patriots getting the better of the Steelers more often than not. These outcomes would be enough to lead Steeler Nation to despise and loathe Tom Brady and Bill Belichick, but when one considers just how loaded with asterisks the Patriots' victories truly are, one realizes that the Patriots had no business attaining their successes.

Steelers Joey Porter dropped a certain pick-6 vs. the Patriots in the 2001 AFC Championship Game / Credit: NFL Films

Spygate:

Just knowing the Steelers lost to the Patriots at Heinz Field in the 2001 and 2004 AFC Championship Games was enough to have disdain for New England. However, it was how they lost that made it even worse. It seemed like 2001 was full of one-off plays, with special teams touchdowns that are rare enough to happen once, to say nothing of twice, in one game. Or to watch Joey Porter drop a guaranteed pick-six that could have changed everything.

However, when the news broke that the Patriots were caught cheating by filming their opposition illegally, influencing the 2001 and 2004 AFC Championship Games, despite Bill Cowher saying to the contrary, Steeler Nation developed an unforgivable disgust for the Patriots.

Marc Edwards, a fullback who was part of the 2002 Patriots, would admit over a decade after the Steelers ended the Patriots' 21-game winning streak in October of 2004 that he heard Tom Brady say “We have their signs” when the teams faced in the season opener.

And when a guy like Troy Polamalu starts to question what is happening, it's definitely worth a second look.

Troy Polamalu, per The Inspirational Story of Pittsburgh Steelers Safety Troy Polamalu by Jim Wexell:

"We look at teams with all of those receivers on the field and have always believed the solution is to blitz them and attack the source. It’s usually successful," Polamalu started. "Really, the only time it didn’t work at all was the 2004 AFC Championship game against the Patriots."

"No matter what we called, or how many players we blitzed, they kept just enough blockers in to pick it up. It happened on every single play. They were perfect. Before we found out what had happened, we thought they had gotten into our playbook. I never experienced anything like it before or since. I walked away from that game thinking Bill Belichick was the greatest coach the game had ever seen," Polamalu said.

After Spygate broke, it put everything into question. The NFL “punished” Belichick by stripping him of a first-round pick and then destroyed the evidence. They tried to suspend Brady with deflate-gate, and should have been out in the opener vs. the Steelers but was allowed to play, ironically in an attempt to placate teams who felt the punishment did not fit the crime.

It has not, nor ever will go, placate Steeler Nation.

Avoiding the Killer B's:

Ben Roethlisberger didn't have the success he should have against the Patriots and it affected his legacy / Credit: AP

When the Steelers of the late 2010s featured the Killer B's combination of Roethlisberger, Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell, it was the most dynamic Steelers offense ever. They dominated as a trio from 2014-2017. Brown was named All-Pro four consecutive years and finished second in Offensive Player of the Year voting twice, Bell was named All-Pro twice and Roethlisberger won passing titles in 2014 and 2018.

The Steelers Le'Veon Bell and Antonio Brown were an unstoppable pair in their peak years / Credit: Justin K. Aller / Getty Images

The Steelers and Patriots played five times from 2014-2018, with the Patriots winning four of the five meetings. Over that time they never once played the Steelers Killer B's for a full game.

Bell missed the 2015 opener and was injured prior to the 2016 AFC Championship Game. That was just after setting a Steelers playoff rushing record with 167 yards vs. the Miami Dolphins and 170 yards vs. the Kansas City Chiefs. You can't say the Patriots didn't dodge a bullet in that game, as Bell gashed them in Week 7 for 125 yards and 2 TDs. That of course was in a game, that conveniently enough for the Patriots, the Steelers were without Ben Roethlisberger.

When the Steelers and Patriots faced off in the now infamous 2017 game featuring a certain catch/no catch by Jesse James, Antonio Brown was injured early. The only game that Brown was held in check by the Patriots was the one where Landry Jones started with Ben out, with the next game the duo was together, Roethlisberger threw for 351 yards and Brown caught 9 for 133 yards.

Antonio Brown was impossible for Malcolm Butler to cover / Credit: Getty Images

The Patriots did not have an answer for a healthy Killer B offense and they got lucky enough to never face their most dangerous opponent at full strength. That doesn't make them better, it just made them lucky.

The Overturned TD:

The Jesse James overturned TD in 2017 still burns to this day / Credit: CBS Sports

In 2017, the Steelers lost Brown to injury after two catches for 24 yards. Down their top receiving threat, Roethlisberger (22/30 for 281 yards, 2 TDs) and Bell (117 rushing yards, 1 TD & 5 receptions for 48 yards) were behind an offense that tallied 24 points through three quarters.  But with a chance to seal the game, Brown’s absence was felt as rookie WR JuJu Smith-Schuster was just 1 yard shy of a game-clinching first down with 2:16 remaining and the Steelers leading 24-19. The Patriots then used Rob Gronkowski to attack the Steelers' defense, who lost their top defender Ryan Shazier just two weeks prior and took the lead.

There are literally no views that justify overturning the Steelers' Jesse James catch in 2017 vs. Patriots / Credit: Pittsburgh Post Gazette

Roethlisberger took the field down three with only 0:36 on the clock, but the stadium erupted after Smith-Schuster snagged a crossing pattern and ran it 69 yards to the Patriot 10-yard line. On the ensuing play, Roethlisberger connected with a wide-open Jesse James who promptly just turned and held the ball over the goal line for the score as he hit the ground. The Steelers had just defeated the Patriots and sealed home-field advantage. Except for the officials, in a decision reminiscent of overruling the Troy Polamalu interception vs. the Indianapolis Colts in the 2005 Playoffs, ruled a caught pass as incomplete despite everyone on the planet knowing it was a catch, including Shazier himself.

Ryan Shazier, per Walking Miracle:

"But, even though no defensive player so much as touched him, the referee ruled the pass incomplete, saying James’s control of the ball did not survive his contact with the ground. It was a mind-boggling call that flew in the face of what we’d all seen. A catch. Coach Tomlin was diplomatic after the 27–24 loss. I was pissed at the call and bummed that we’d lost," Shazier explained.

Alejandro Villanueva, per ESPN:

“I remember seeing Jesse catch the ball and making an effort to get over the goal line. I remember him stretching, feeling he was cognizant of where the goal line was and he reached out to make it. I remember watching the pass, but what’s crazy is, I don’t even know. I’ve seen it so many times. I don’t know what’s real and what’s fiction," Villanueva remembered.

NFL Tries to Justify before "Fixing" the rule:

Further twisting the knife into the hearts of Steeler Nation, the NFL fixed the rule interpretation/justification to ensure that the overruled completion would have been overturned. It not only further proved how stupid the officials were in awarding the Patriots a win that they did not earn, but did nothing to endear themselves to a fanbase that echoed the sentiments of Maurkice Pouncey.

Maurkice Pouncey, per ESPN:

“It wasn’t no famous play, It didn’t happen. The play that never happened. It was a practice play. That s--- don’t even matter. They changed the rule. So, we can’t even talk about that anymore because that play is a no-catch with an old rule," Pouncey said.

The Butterfly Effect:

The butterfly effect of this play is felt to this day. The game was for the #1 seed in the AFC and the Steelers were cruising to a 14-2 record which would have changed a number of outcomes. As there was no clear-cut outstanding performance for MVP, it defaulted to Tom Brady as the QB with the best record. That would have been Ben Roethlisberger earning his first MVP, instead.

More importantly, the #1 seed that should have gone to the Steelers, was the creampuff divisional round vs. the punch-less Tennessee Titans. The Patriots slept walked through that game and it would have belonged to the Steelers, while they waited for the winner of the Jacksonville Jaguars and Patriots.

The Steelers would have won that game and in facing a Nick Foles-led Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LII. A Killer B’s driven offense had both the run and pass covered to control it from the air and ground as Big Ben would have walked off into the sunset with a third Lombardi and a legacy shared by only three other QBs. Cam Heyward and Maurkice Pouncey would have received rings they so richly deserved as well.

What is your take on the three most dubious details about the Steelers/Patriots Rivalry? Leave a comment below!

#SteelerNation

Coming to the Steelers home opener against the Patriots? Come tailgate with us! All you can drink and eat. Click here.