Franco Harris and Rocky Bleier missed that title game. That was a 1,000-yards-each rushing tandem, a rare thing in NFL history. The Steelers were trying to book a trip to the Super Bowl with Reggie Harrison and John Fuqua starting in the backfield.
But Franco and Rocky didn't play defense. The Raiders had 99 yards rushing in the first half and put 24 points on the board against that great Pittsburgh defense.
I'm not saying the Raiders weren't the better team. But it would have helped the Steelers to be going in at full strength offensively.
The Oilers didn't win the Stanley Cup in 1986. Montreal won. Edmonton was eliminated when Steve Smith shot a puck of his goaltender's leg and into his own net.
herbert - we already covered that. we were only talking about defense by that point. the raiders also beat the steelers when they were at full strength during the opening week.