Back in the day, the Pittsburgh Steelers and New England Patriots had plenty of heated battles. In the Tom Brady era, the Patriots won six Super Bowls. Not only did they tie the Steelers' all-time record for Super Bowl victories, but they took several away from them throughout the years. Of this tenure, the 2004 AFC Championship still leaves a sour taste in the mouths of Pittsburgh fans.
The Patriots defeated the Steelers 41-27 at then-Heinz Field, which included a halftime score of 24-3. If you didn't already see/hear, former Steelers stars Ben Roethlisberger and Jerome Bettis recently talked about this game on Roethlisberger's Footbahlin podcast. In fact, they believe the Patriots cheated in that AFC Championship Game. Clearly in response to those comments, former Patriots cornerback Asante Samuel Sr. tweeted out a comeback on Wednesday.
Essentially, Samuel, whose son now plays for the Los Angeles Chargers, didn't like the comments made by Bettis and Roethlisberger. Instead of cheating, Samuel claims the defense simply had tips and tricks on knowing what play was coming from the Steelers offense. The Patriots aren't new to claims of this kind of stuff, as they've went through Deflategate, Spygate, and several other allegations over the years.
In the ongoing back-and-forth, former Steelers safety Ryan Clark hopped in and responded to Samuel. He gave a quick little jab in reference to Samuel stating all of the players that the Patriots had that were better than the Steelers.
"Lolol! 1 out of 3 ain’t bad bruh," Clark tweeted back to Samuel.
Presumably, he's giving Samuel the fact that Brady is indeed better than Roethlisberger. Regardless of who you root for, it's pretty hard to deny that statement. Brady did retire (last season) with seven Super Bowls under his belt, and he stands as arguably the greatest quarterback of all-time. This comes with no disrespect to Roethlisberger, who was an all-time great and future Hall of Famer in his own right.
As for the other two positional debates, well, Clark seems to be correct. Bettis was elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2015, as the last 10 years of his career came in Pittsburgh. For his 13-year career, he racked up 13,662 rushing yards and 94 total touchdowns. Meanwhile, Corey Dillon was a superb running back in his own right, but he isn't in Canton and has two less Pro Bowl appearances than Bettis.
Did Steelers Have A More Talented Roster In 2004?
At the time though, in 2004, Dillon may have been the better back. He was coming off a regular season in which he ran for 1,635 yards and 12 touchdowns, which earned him a Pro Bowl nod. Bettis was a Pro Bowl tailback as well, but he failed to eclipse 1,000 rushing yards. As for the final debate, with all due respect to Rodney Harrison, former Steelers star Troy Polamalu is easily better than him. Similar to Bettis, Polamalu's resume earned him a nod into the Hall of Fame. He's widely regarded as one of the best players in NFL history and a top-two safety of his generation.
We'll see if there is more back and forth between the two in the coming days, or even if some more former players will chime in. As previously stated, the Patriots have a sketchy past, so it would be of no surprise if they were cheating in that 2004 AFC Championship matchup.
Do you agree with Clark's response? Which running back was better: Dillon or Bettis? What is your favorite Patriots-Steelers memory from the long-lasting rivalry? If not for Brady and the Patriots, how many Super Bowls would Roethlisberger had won?
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