Galax Steeler
08-04-2010, 04:02 AM
This series will highlight my Top 12 Greatest Wins in Pittsburgh Steelers' history. I do not include Super Bowls, as they would eat up half the series! Please keep in mind that these wins are not necessarily the most important wins. If that were the case, then only the deepest playoff wins would be recounted. Sometimes "importance" is a factor, but not always. Sometimes the underdog factor comes into play and sometimes the comeback factor is the reason for a game being selected where it is. Sometimes it is just the way the game unfolded. In any case, this is just one person's opinion, so there is no right and wrong, just fun. Enjoy.
Look, it's simple. Beat the Cleveland Browns in a playoff game and you get on my list, any list, not just a football list. Great moments in my life, great days, great joys, great anything. In the case of the 1994 division-round playoffs, there were mitigating circumstances, not that any are needed, which make this win even sweeter. First, the Steelers didn't just win this game, or have to come back like 2002. They in fact pounded the Browns into submission. The game was a complete butt-whoopin, like some lopsided college game between men and boys.
Second, this joke of a football game came at the expense of Bill Belichick, no less. Of course, we didn't know at the time that Belichick would be coronated by some as the best coach of all-time, certainly of his era, en route to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. This game will always stand out in my mind as Belichick's first playoff loss, and a bad one at that. I lived in Cleveland at the time. The Cleveland players tried hard to camouflage their feelings about how the Browns were out-schemed in the game. The Browns' defense, the side of the ball with Belichick's expertise, was simply never in the right place at the right time. Pittsburgh ran the ball right down their throats and there was nothing Cleveland could do to stop it. Browns' defenders came off the field and threw their helmets on the ground, frustrated at being manhandled. There was yelling going on between players and coaches on the sidelines. I was delirious with joy at such a sight.
The Cleveland media was not as kind as the players and had no motivation to camouflage anything. The media ripped Belichick a new one. In fact, this game was the beginning of the end for Belichick in Cleveland. The fans and media crucified the man unmercifully, ran him out of town like he was Hannibal Lector. His kids couldn't ride the school bus. Police had to watch his house. All of that, of course, leads me to absolutely love this 1994 playoff game.
Read more:http://www.behindthesteelcurtain.com/
Look, it's simple. Beat the Cleveland Browns in a playoff game and you get on my list, any list, not just a football list. Great moments in my life, great days, great joys, great anything. In the case of the 1994 division-round playoffs, there were mitigating circumstances, not that any are needed, which make this win even sweeter. First, the Steelers didn't just win this game, or have to come back like 2002. They in fact pounded the Browns into submission. The game was a complete butt-whoopin, like some lopsided college game between men and boys.
Second, this joke of a football game came at the expense of Bill Belichick, no less. Of course, we didn't know at the time that Belichick would be coronated by some as the best coach of all-time, certainly of his era, en route to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. This game will always stand out in my mind as Belichick's first playoff loss, and a bad one at that. I lived in Cleveland at the time. The Cleveland players tried hard to camouflage their feelings about how the Browns were out-schemed in the game. The Browns' defense, the side of the ball with Belichick's expertise, was simply never in the right place at the right time. Pittsburgh ran the ball right down their throats and there was nothing Cleveland could do to stop it. Browns' defenders came off the field and threw their helmets on the ground, frustrated at being manhandled. There was yelling going on between players and coaches on the sidelines. I was delirious with joy at such a sight.
The Cleveland media was not as kind as the players and had no motivation to camouflage anything. The media ripped Belichick a new one. In fact, this game was the beginning of the end for Belichick in Cleveland. The fans and media crucified the man unmercifully, ran him out of town like he was Hannibal Lector. His kids couldn't ride the school bus. Police had to watch his house. All of that, of course, leads me to absolutely love this 1994 playoff game.
Read more:http://www.behindthesteelcurtain.com/