Few losses have lingered longer for the Pittsburgh Steelers than the 2004 AFC Championship defeat, which ended one of their best seasons. 22 years later, former Steelers star James Harrison still believes that there was more to the New England Patriots’ performance than simply superior execution.

“That one year, the year we was undefeated, we popped them and Philly back-to-back. And then came the championship game,” Harrison explained in the recent episode of the Deebo & Joe Podcast. “When I say they caught us, they only missed one blitz. What in the world, Joe?” How many times in your career have you ever seen where an offense gets y’all on every blitz but one? Don’t forget, we’re Blitzburgh back then. We’re talking about 25 [blitzes].

“We hit them by like 21 before. They came back and popped us by like 21 in a playoff game, championship game,” Harrison said. “We was running the same defense, we was doing different blitzes. But what they did is they caught our signals.” 

Just three months ago, the Steelers defeated the Patriots 30-14. But in the rematch, New England secured a 41-27 win. The Steelers were knocked out of the season because of this loss, despite having charged through the league with a 15-1 regular-season record.

The Patriots’ offensive performance shocked a Pittsburgh defensive unit famously known as ‘Blitzburgh.’ Under the guidance of Dick LeBeau, the Steelers used a highly varied scheme designed to confuse and overwhelm the opposing quarterbacks. It had become a signature for the franchise during the 90s, especially during the dominant defensive showcase from 1993 to 1996. Pittsburgh racked up 239 quarterback sacks between 1993 and 1997, The Athletic’s Ed Bouchette noted.

However, in the aforementioned game, Brady was sacked only twice by the Steelers.

The former Defensive Player of the Year further detailed how the Patriots operated at the line of scrimmage and nullified the Steelers’ complex rush packages. They threw passes at places that one wouldn’t even think of.

Later in 2007, the Patriots were caught in the Spygate scandal. Matt Walsh, a former New England video department employee, told investigators that the franchise would send videographers to tape and collect all signals and corresponding plays by the opposing teams. 

An investigation conducted by ESPN revealed that the Patriots had recorded signals in 40 games from 2000 to 2007.

Harrison and Hartings weren’t the only ones who accused the Patriots of cheating. Former Steeler icon Ben Roethlisberger openly accused the Patriots of cheating, with Jerome Bettis backing the quarterback. The running back was certain that New England had their signs and called a false huddle up to relay the information when they saw a signal from the Steelers. 

“They had our signs and they called a timeout to get them ready for that play because they knew it was coming,” Bettis said on Footbahlin’ with Ben Roethlisberger. “No questions in my mind. I remember vividly because I thought, ‘Why is this big dude going to the sideline?’”

Harrison may not have offered new evidence, but his comments make one thing clear. He still believes that the Patriots knew too much. And the belief hasn’t faded with time.