Historically, there has been some bad blood between the Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers. As long-time rivals, the two teams and cities squared off on numerous occasions.
Since the Browns return in 1999, the Steelers have mostly controlled the rivalry and, instead, had a more fierce dislike for the Baltimore Ravens.
The dynamic between Cleveland and Pittsburgh started to change recently. The retirement of Ben Roethlisberger turns the page on the Ohio native constantly dominating the home state team that passed on him. The Browns playoff victory showed that the rivalry was alive again.
Prior to those two things, the fight that led to DE Myles Garrett being suspended for six games in 2019 was the biggest story between the two teams in decades.
Two other participants in that scuffle, DT Larry Ogunjobi and QB Mason Rudolph, were brought together as teammates with the Steelers this offseason. The former Browns defender spoke to Pittsburgh media Tuesday and discussed his relationship with his new teammate:
Larry Ogunjobi said it “speaks volumes” about Mason Rudolph that the QB reached out to him after he signed with Steelers. Called the incident when he was with the Browns “water under the bridge.”
— Joe Rutter (@tribjoerutter) July 26, 2022
On the field, Ogunjobi should be a big help to the Steelers defensive line if he is fully healthy from his foot injury that happened in the playoffs. Cam Heyward and T.J. Watt create a lot of disruption on their own but need players to take advantage of one on one blocking they are likely to see.
For Ogunjobi, the fight is water under the bridge. For Cleveland and Pittsburgh, the rivalry slowly seems to be returning to its proper form.