Everyone loves a good, old fashioned rivalry in sports. Within the game of football, we’ve been beyond fortunate to see some great ones. The Packers and Bears have been playing each other for so long that both franchises have grown to respect one another and we’ve seen some of the greatest players in NFL history play for both these franchises. The Giants and Cowboys is another, because their battles are always close, intense and it always means something in the unpredictable, yet entertaining NFC East. The Steelers and Ravens have given us some memorable battles over the years. For more than a decade, we were fortunate to see a match-up between Peyton Manning and Tom Brady, two of the greatest quarterbacks ever to play the position. So here’s the million dollar question: What is the best rivalry in the National Football League right now?
In my humble opinion, the Pittsburgh Steelers and New England Patriots is the best rivalry in the NFL today and I can explain my reasoning behind it. First, the games always seem to mean something when it comes down to the playoff picture in the AFC and last year’s showdown between these two teams is a perfect example of what I just mentioned because the winner would go on and pretty much wrap up the one seed in the conference meaning that the road to the Super Bowl in the AFC would travel through Foxborough, Massachusetts or Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The battle last season with these two teams didn’t disappoint. The Steelers looked to have this game sealed up, but you never count the Patriots out and Tom Brady did what Tom Brady does late in the game and put his team in the best position to win. We also remember how this game ended with the overturned called on a supposed touchdown by Jesse James in the red zone and Ben fake kneeling and throwing an interception to end the game. Secondly, both quarterbacks on these teams have won when it matters and there are a total of seven Super Bowl rings between the two (Brady has five and Ben has two). These have been two of the best at their position for a decade and even as they both have gotten up there in age, they still continue to put up big numbers. Both these teams each have two of the best skilled players at their positions arguably in Antonio Brown and Rob Gronkowski. When you talk about who the best wide receiver and tight end are right now, these two names will come into the conversation. The coaches are also amongst the best in the league. Bill Belichick and Mike Tomlin are the two best in the business as we speak.
There have been so many memorable moments between these two teams. I remember back in 2004, the Patriots entered Heinz Field winners of 21 games in a row dating back to the previous season and a young rookie quarterback named Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers snapped that streak. A few months later, they met for a chance to get to the Super Bowl in the AFC title game and Brady showed the young man that there’s a difference between the regular season and postseason. Since 2002, they have met in the postseason a total of three times in the AFC Championship with the most recent being in 2017. This is the one match up I always expect to see on the schedules and they face each other again this December, just like last season and I’m sure quite a bit will be on the line once again when they play again.
