The Cleveland Browns’ rivalry with the Pittsburgh Steelers is one of the most intense in the NFL, if not all of sports. Unfortunately, it doesn’t get the widespread national attention it deserves due to the Browns’ inability to consistently hold up their end of the bargain.
The teams have been in the same division for almost all of their history, including two different iterations of the Cleveland franchise over nearly eight decades. To this day, former Steelers quarterback Ben Roesthilsberger can’t resist taking shots at the Browns, even though he’s been out of the league for five years.
Former Browns wide receiver Josh Gordon recently took his own jab at the Steelers, while at the same time complimenting one of their former players for delivering the hardest hit on him in his career.
“My hardest hit? James Harrison. James Harrison broke my ankle. It was my rookie season, too. It’s just the cleats got planted in that sh***y a** turf in Pittsburgh, in Sh**sburgh. To this day, it’ll pop on you every time I’m walking,” Gordon said.
Gordon was wrapping up a fairly successful rookie season in the finale at what was then known as Heinz Field. He finished the year with 50 catches for 805 yards and five touchdowns.
He seemed to recover from the injury just fine, as in his second season, he posted 87 receptions for 1,646 yards and nine touchdowns, playing 14 games after missing the first two games serving a substance-abuse suspension. Those troubles followed him throughout the rest of his career, as he had to serve more lengthy suspensions for violating the league’s substance-abuse and PED policies.
As for Pittsburgh, the conditions at what is now Acrisure Stadium have not improved much, if at all. The playing surface continues to be criticized as dangerous, and it received an F grade in the latest NFLPA player survey. The Steelers reportedly are installing a new surface for this season.
As for Harrison, his hit against Gordon was not his only devastating one against the Browns. He knocked wide receivers Mohamed Massaquoi and Josh Cribbs out of the same game in 2010, and was suspended for a hit against quarterback Colt McCoy in 2011.
It is just part of the long and storied rivalry between the Browns and Steelers, with players of every era having painful memories just like this one.
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