The rivalry between the Pittsburgh Steelers and New England Patriots may not have the same feeling as it did in the 2000s, but there’s still some hatred there.
Both Ben Roethlisberger and Tom Brady are no longer in Pittsburgh or New England, but the Patriots do still have Bill Belichick at the helm. That’s always going to bring up some memories for Steelers fans.
The Steelers lost the AFC Championship Game to the Patriots in both the 2001 and 2004 seasons. Later in the 2000s, Belichick and the Patriots were accused of spying on teams, but there’s no way to know just how long that had been occurring.
The Steelers host the Patriots on Sunday afternoon with Pittsburgh looking to build off a Week 1 win. New England, meanwhile, is hoping to find its footing after a 20-7 defeat in Miami.
Adam Crowley and Colin Dunlap of Audacy’s “Fourth Down In The Steel City” podcast talked about the Steelers - Patriots rivalry and why Steelers fans shouldn’t forget spygate and the early 2000s AFC Championship Game losses.
“It’s not the same as with Brady but it’s not far off. It’s still the Patriots. I think they’re frauds and they cheated under Belichick and Brady,” Dunlap said (3:52 in player above). “So while at least one of them is employed by the New England Patriots, I’ll still have that feeling like they took something away from this organization – that I don’t know if the organization would’ve attained or obtained – but they never had the true chance to reach the heights they may have because it was nefariously taken away from them.”
The Steelers earned the top seed in the AFC with a 13-3 season in 2001. They easily beat the Ravens in the divisional round before falling in the AFC Championship Game to the Patriots. Of course, New England went on to win the Super Bowl that started the Belichick-Brady dynasty.
“Kordell Stewart was on the station this week and he said when he would make checks in that 2001 AFC Championship Game that the Patriots knew exactly what the Steelers were going to do and he said that that wasn’t the case with other teams. They wanted to get a beat on it. They thought they might know. But they didn’t know,” Crowley said.
“When Kordell Stewart says that. Truthful guy. Someone who played in the game. Cost that guy a ring. When he says that, that matters to me, ‘cause as a fan, that was one of the first games that I really remember having that heartbreak. I was 11 years old. I just remember the heartbreak, the upset, how upset everybody was, he continued. “And it can affect me that way, but when you’ve got Kordell Stewart and you’ve got Chris Hoke saying similar things, and maybe a little even stronger in on it even than Kordell went. It mattered to those guys that the Patriots cheated. Of course it mattered to those guys, so it should matter to us.”
Sometimes fans are upset with players or teams for not feeling the same way that they do, but that isn’t necessarily always the right thing. On the flip side, perhaps fans should be more upset when players and teams are upset about something.
“If the guys who were the combatants and playing in the games say we should never forget about this, then why shouldn’t it be a trickle-down thought to the people who weren’t playing in the games. I can’t buy that it should be a trickle-up, that the players should feel some way because the fans feel some way, but I 100% always buy a trickle-down,” Dunlap said. “This is the case of the trickle-down. The players are telling us how they feel. In every other instance in football and in sports, we take it as gospel. Why shouldn’t we here? Why shouldn’t we be as mad as them?”
Crowley shares those same sentiments.
“We should. 100% we should,” he said. “Especially given how better that Steelers team in ‘01 was than those Patriots, I believe, and they certainly were over the course of the regular season.”
Not only did the Steelers lose to the Patriots in the 2001 AFC Championship Game, but the 2004 one as well. This came after Pittsburgh beat New England 34-20 during the regular season.
“‘04 is obviously a game that was in question,” Crowley continued. “And the Patriots were great, there’s no doubt about that… Part of that’s because of the cheating. How much of it because of the cheating? Not so sure. But at least a part of it was because of the cheating. The Steelers had thumped them already and then you lose in the playoffs. The Steelers were a 10-point favorite against New England in 2001 and then you lose in the playoffs, and you were down big in that game. You can play bad. That happens. You look at 1994. These things do happen. But I can’t get the taste out of my mouth that at least the Steelers have at least one more AFC Championship if not at least one more Super Bowl championship if the Patriots didn’t cheat. How can I be wrong when the players feel the same way? Those Steelers teams were that good.”
The Steelers finally got over the hump with Super Bowl victories in the 2005 and 2008 seasons, but they didn’t face the Patriots in either of those playoff runs.
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