Ben Roethlisberger, Jerome Bettis claiming Patriots cheated in 2004 AFC title game sounds like sour grapes

The New England Patriots’ dynasty earlier this century is well and truly over. But that isn’t stopping some of the teams they stomped on over the years from throwing out their gripes.

In a new podcast episode of Footbahlin with Ben Roethlisberger, the former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback reminisced with old teammate Jerome Bettis about their glory days together. After a humorous sequence about who cost who a trip to Super Bowl 39, Roethlisberger veered the conversation to an all-too-predictable place. He claimed that the Patriots cheated during the 2004 AFC title game.

Bettis, of course, agreed with the sentiment. But this is how losers of a big game almost always feel:

Big Ben and Jerome Bettis on playing the Patriots in the 2004 AFC Championship Game:

Ben: “To be fair the Patriots cheated.”

Jerome: “For Sure they did.”#steelers

YT/ Footbahlin With Ben Roethlisberger@_BigBen7 pic.twitter.com/m9G5Oe0qR6

— Matthew Luciow (@matthewluciow92) September 25, 2023

Look, I’m not going to discount the Patriots’ reputation for apparently cheating. “Spygate” and “Deflategate” were big deals for a team that sat at the top of the NFL for roughly 20 years. But the Patriots flat-out smacked the Steelers in that AFC title game. A 41-27 final score is not nearly indicative of how much better New England was. The way Roethlisberger and Bettis seemingly describe it is that the Steelers were maybe a few plays here or there from shifting the tide. And that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Their claim here feels like sour grapes because they didn’t get a chance at the Super Bowl. But maybe we’d all be in denial if we lost that kind of golden opportunity.