Steelers Legend James Harrison Exposed Patriots' Cheating Rumors Once Again

The Pittsburgh Steelers have always had a deep rivalry with the New England Patriots. Despite not being in the same division, the history of big games against each other has built up a hatred between the respective fan bases. That has trickled onto the field as well. Every game between the two franchises was very meaningful over the years, especially when it was during the Tom Brady and Ben Roethlisberger eras. 

All-time, the Patriots lead the all time series 19-17, while dominating Pittsburgh in the playoffs 4-1. Some believe that the Patriots did a little more than just have a strong team, creating some allegations of cheating. 

The Deflategate scandal didn't happen against Pittsburgh, but that sheds some light about these allegations against the Steelers that a few players have come out to talk about. Most recently, Steelers legend James Harrison re-ignited the debate about New England potentially cheating.

Harrison spoke on his Deebo and Joe podcast about these allegations, specifically recalling the 2004 AFC Championship game where Harrison claims they only missed one blitz from their defense. They were ready for it every time and Harrison suspects they had a little help determining when it was coming.

"When I say they caught us, they only missed one blitz," Harrison stated. "What in the world, Joe? How many times in your career have you ever seen where an offense gets y'all on every blitz y'all do but one? Now don't forget, we were Blitzburgh back then. We're talking about 25 blitz something like that... I don't care what nobody says. They were catching all of that."

At this time, the Pittsburgh defense was highly-regarded for their blitzing abilities, earning the nickname of 'Blitzburgh.' Fairly enough, that allowed teams to prepare for the blitz the week leading up to the game since they knew it was coming. 

This game was different though. Harrison added how the Steelers' defense had a handful of false blitzes on each side of the ball, but they never fell for it. They were always aware of where they were coming from, which raised a lot of ideas that they could have been stealing.

The losing never felt good, but to feel like they were cheated makes things 10 times worse. Pittsburgh had an excellent defense that year as well, but they were not on it that night, giving up 41 points to New England. That sent the Patriots to the Super Bowl and they took down the Philadelphia Eagles 24-21. What makes it sting even more is the Steelers won the year after that and if they played a fair game in the AFC Championship, then they may have repeated as Super Bowl champs. 

Looking at it today, the Steelers and Patriots are tied in Super Bowl wins at six. This would have given the Steelers the all-time advantage in that regard too. 

It stinks to look back on this now and hear what the players think about this outcome. It's one thing to be a sore loser, but it's another when it's a legitimate theory that New England found some way to know what the Steelers were calling. Could that have been poor signal calling by the Steelers' sideline? Possibly, but that would be difficult to judge if that were the actual issue. 

Steelers' Lost Chance At A Potential Super Bowl Repeat

In hindsight, this allegation and idea just puts the feeling out there of what could have been. Fans never know if Pittsburgh would have won that Super Bowl or if the Patriots even did cheat, but this idea puts that sour taste back in fans' mouths. 

Bill Belichick will forever be considered one of the best coaches of all time, but something like this could have given Pittsburgh another big moment over the legend. The Black and Gold faithful will never know, but Harrison is convinced there was something sneaky going on.

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