How do you explain the value of an offensive guard like Alan Faneca?
You can count his All-Pro selections; Faneca made six on the first team, two more on the second. He made nine Pro Bowls. He was selected as a starter on the NFL’s all-decade team of the 2000s and he’s on the Steelers’ all-time team. Faneca also missed just two games in his 13-year career, one when Bill Cowher rested some starters in a meaningless season finale.
That’s impressive, although it still took voters six years of his eligibility to elect him to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Other than that, there are few hard statistics to go by. Various rating services try to evaluate film and rank linemen that way. They are not always trustworthy.
Another way is to go by what people saw, those who played with him, against him, coached him, covered him on a daily basis. And while Hall of Famers mostly were consistently great, as was Faneca, there are signature moments in each career that speak to greatness at just the right time: Bill Mazeroski’s World Series-winning home run, Jerome Bettis bowling over fellow Hall of Famer Brian Urlacher, Franco Harris pulling off the Immaculate Reception.
For Faneca, there are two such instances, one way more important than the other because it helped win a Super Bowl. The second, though, showed the heart and sacrifice of a teammate during a season in which the Steelers were going nowhere. The perspectives from teammates and coaches on those two occurrences display the awe they had for Faneca.
The first came in Super Bowl XL when Faneca pulled from left guard all the way to the right like a steaming locomotive to block Seattle linebacker LeRoy Hill into oblivion. 34 Counter Pike was the play led by the guy they all called “Big Red.
