This week’s instalment of Thursday Night Football brings together the Cleveland Browns and the Pittsburgh Steelers for the 146th edition of the Turnpike Rivalry.
The longest-running fixture in the American Football League (AFC), the Browns and the Steelers first met in 1950 when the former joined the NFL. They have been in the AFC North since 1970, playing each other two times per season ever since.
The name ‘Turnpike Rivalry’ is taken from the Ohio and Pennsylvania Turnpike motoring routes that connect the cities of Cleveland and Pittsburgh. The word ‘turnpike’ refers to the type of toll gate previously used on some roads.
The two cities are 135 miles apart and there’s always a substantial away contingent at games, making the two-hour drive to follow their team. This practice is helped by the fact that both teams have strong fan bases and well-established supporter groups.
“Seeing the blood, sweat, tears that happened. These games are hard-nosed, hard-fought,” Cleveland QB Jameis Winston said of the Browns-Steelers rivalry. “True definition of cold-weather football game. This is premiere.”
Which players have represented the Browns and the Steelers?
Given how long the Browns-Steelers rivalry has ran, it’s no surprise to see that a number of famous NFL stars have played for both teams. Punter Chris Gardocki played for the Steelers for three years, winning Super Bowl XL in Pittsburgh, before spending five seasons with the Browns.
Cleveland-born Chuck Noll won two NFL Championships with the Browns as a player in the 1950s before embarking on a coaching career. He took over a decaying Steelers team in 1969 and transformed them into genuine powerhouse, leading the team to four Super Bowl triumphs and four AFC titles over the course of a mammoth 22-year stretch in Pittsburgh.
The rivalry between the teams is normally good-natured but a recent incident highlighted the tension between the two teams. In 2021 Steelers wide receiver Juju Smith-Schuster took aim at the much-improved Browns, insisting that he was not convinced by their progress.
“I think they’re still the same Browns teams I play every year,” Smith-Schuster said. “I think they’re nameless gray faces. They have a couple good players on their team, but at the end of the day, I don’t know. The Browns is the Browns.”
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