The Pittsburgh Steelers have a long history of success, meaning the team’s developed a lot of rivalries, inside and outside its division. In The 33rd Team’s rankings of the best non-divisional rivalries in the NFL, the Steelers took two of the top five spots, with their rivalry with the Dallas Cowboys ranking No. 2 and their rivalry with the Las Vegas Raiders coming in at No. 4.
The Steelers and Cowboys have the most matchups between two teams in the Super Bowl era. They’ve met three times, with Pittsburgh taking two matchups and Dallas taking one. In the all-time series, the Cowboys just barely hold the edge with a 17-16 record, but the Steelers will look to tie that up when the two teams meet in Week 5 this season. Marcus Mosher said the Week 5 game will be one of the best of the year, because “that’s always the case” when the two teams match up.
“They’ll meet again in primetime in 2024 (Week 5), and you can guarantee that it’ll be one of the best games of the year because that’s always the case between the Cowboys and the Steelers,” Mosher wrote.
The Steelers-Raiders rivalry, like the Steelers-Cowboys rivalry, dates back to the 1970s, and you can really say it started with the Immaculate Reception in the 1972 AFC Divisional Round. As far as the all-time series goes, the Raiders lead 17-15, and that’s because for whatever reason, Pittsburgh has had trouble with them in recent seasons. Pittsburgh narrowly edged Las Vegas over the last two seasons, but Vegas upset Pittsburgh in 2021 and 2018 when they were still the Oakland Raiders. In the Steelers’ last 10 games against Oakland/Vegas, they’re just 4-6.
The Raiders also upset Pittsburgh in 2009 with Bruce Gradkowski at quarterback, the fourth-straight loss in an eventual five-game losing streak that sunk Pittsburgh’s season coming off a Super Bowl victory. The two teams will meet again in Week 6 this season.
The historical significance of Steelers-Raiders and Steelers-Cowboys helps make them such great rivalries. The Steelers and Raiders have met six times in the postseason and were the two biggest threats in the AFC for much of the 1970s, while the Steelers and Cowboys both had talented teams throughout the 1970s, playing twice in the Super Bowl with Pittsburgh taking both. They then met again in 1995, with Dallas getting one over Pittsburgh in a game many Steelers fans would likely rather forget.
Even if it doesn’t scream rivalry on paper, and it doesn’t really when you have Kenny Pickett going up against Jimmy Garoppolo, the history between the teams does add a little extra something when the Steelers and Raiders and Steelers and Cowboys play. That’s why both rank so high on the list.
