STEELERS BLACK -N- GOLD POST A Pittsburgh Steelers Blog from the heart of Steelers Nation.

by Ramona Dye

Division Rivalries are born of experience. Our Steelers, the Browns, Bengals and Ravens face each other two times a season in pursuit of the AFC North title. Fans, Players and coaches draw on the memories of past games as the look forward to each game against their rivals.

Every game adds another chapter to the rivalry. Heart breaking losses, last minute drives, trash-talking, bone crushing hits, fights on the field -- all these things factor into another reason to hate your rival.

While the Browns-Steelers rivalry is the only AFC North rivalry that predates the AFC Central, two old AFC Central rivals deserve mention --  Houston Oilers and the Jacksonville Jaguars.

House of Pain

The Houston Oilers were one of the AFL's founding franchises. In 1970, they joined the AFC Central along with the Steelers, Browns, and Bengals, and soon developed heated rivalries with all three (especially our Steelers).

Known as the "House of Pain," the Houston Astrodome became one of the toughest places in the NFL to play for any road team.

The Catch that Wasn't

During the 1979-1980 AFC Championship game, our Steelers faced the Oilers. 

The Oilers jumped to an early 7-0 lead when Vernon Perry of the Oilers picked Terry Bradshaw returing the pick 75 yards for the score. After the teams traded ield goals, our Steelers took the lead with two Bradshaw TD passes, a 16-yarder to tight end Bennie Cunningham and a 20-yard one to wide receiver John Stallworth.

Late in the third quarter, with the Steelers leading 17-10, Oilers quarterback Dan Pastorini threw a pass to Mike Renfro at the back of the end zone. Renfro caught the ball with both feet in bounds before he fell out of the end zone. 

However, officials claimed to not have seen the catch and ruled that Renfro lacked control of the ball before going out of bounds. The Oilers settled for a 23-yard field goal.

Our Steelers would go on to win 27-13, with another Matt Bahr field goal and a Rocky Bleier 4-yard rushing touchdown.

While our Franco Harris rushed for 85 yards and caught 6 passes for 50 yards, our defense shutdown Oilers running back Earl Campbell, the NFL's leading rusher during the season, with a mere 15 yards on 17 carries.

An estimated 70,000 Texans turned out to commiserate with the Oilers in the dead of a January night in Houston after that 27-13 AFC championship loss in Pittsburgh.

The Jags

In 1995, the Jacksonville Jaguars were an expansion team added to the AFC Central division. Off to a great start, the Jaguars became instant rivals with our Steelers. This division rivalry lasted only seven years. In 2002, the NFL moved the Jags to the AFC South.

League Re-alignment and Franchise Moving

 The division rivalry that began in a nearly new Astrodome and a brand-new Three Rivers Stadium would wind up in a nearly new Adelphia Coliseum and a brand-new Heinz Field more than 30 years later. It wasn't just the venues that changed as the 1970s gave way to the '80s, the '90s and, finally, a new century that the cities changed as well. The Houston Oilers shifted to Memphis in 1997 and then to Nashville a year later, becoming the Tennessee Titans. In 2002 the NFL re-aligned the league, moving the Tennessee Titans to the AFC South.

Even as coaches and players, the nicknames and the locales changed, the division rivalry between the Titans/Oilers and our Steelers has lived on.