redst3
06-25-2006, 06:40 AM
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/football/nfl/2006-06-21-elite-ol_x.htm
good read, here are the parts about him - and sorry if this has already been posted...
Steelers' Faneca sweats the small stuff
Big people battle big people in the NFL for ever-increasing stakes.
Often the most critical element to their success is a willingness to think small.
Overlook no detail. Ignore not even the seemingly trivial flaw. Obsess about the minute aspects.
"You have to keep working on the little things," says Alan Faneca, the Pittsburgh Steelers standout guard. "The tendency is to let the small things, like footwork, slide as you get tired and banged up. You really have to watch what you're doing when you watch game film to see what you're slipping on.
"If you're banged up and something is not functioning as well as you would like, you still have to work at it, even if you can't practice because you're saving it for the game. You take mental reps, go through things in your head to stay in the game."
Which is where Faneca stays. A No. 1 pick in 1998, he has started 64 consecutive regular-season games and 121 of the 126 he has played in. He's missed two games in his career.
Five times a Pro Bowl pick, Faneca says he enjoys the mental part of his job as much as the application of brute force in the Steelers' potent running game.
When he sits down to look at video of his opponents, he might as well be at the movies staring at a summer blockbuster. He's thoroughly engrossed.
"I really enjoy trying to figure things out. Even though it's challenging to have different looks thrown at you, to me it's like a puzzle," he says. "When you see a team do things that are different, you kind of insert plays you run and figure how it would work out, or how a pass protection would work against that."
Preparation sets the table. The willingness to sell out on the field clears it.
"I just love playing with him," says tackle Marvel Smith, who has lined up next to Faneca on the left side of the Pittsburgh line the last two years. "I'm amazed by his intensity during the game. I know he has made me a better player. You can't help but be a better player being with him."
Smith says it is routine to look at game video and see Faneca execute his block at the line, take on a linebacker and finish the play 30 yards downfield.
"It just rubs off on all the offensive linemen," he says. "We all started looking for extra blocks."
Faneca isn't one to talk much about big offseason plans. He says there isn't much "off" in the offseason and that has only been more true with the Steelers coming off a Super Bowl victory.
"The way I look at it, every season for the last five years has ended with the Pro Bowl, and when that game is over the season has begun because everybody wants to get where you've just been. You always have to find something to get you better and work harder than everybody else," he says.
Yet he'll still find a little time to go back home to Thibodeaux, La., and do a little fishing. Does his mind wander to X's and O's as he tries to hook the elusive redfish and speckled trout on these precious bits of down time?
"I'm just thinking about the fish," he says. "You've got to get away from it. You've got to have some time to prepare yourself for the long haul of the season."
good read, here are the parts about him - and sorry if this has already been posted...
Steelers' Faneca sweats the small stuff
Big people battle big people in the NFL for ever-increasing stakes.
Often the most critical element to their success is a willingness to think small.
Overlook no detail. Ignore not even the seemingly trivial flaw. Obsess about the minute aspects.
"You have to keep working on the little things," says Alan Faneca, the Pittsburgh Steelers standout guard. "The tendency is to let the small things, like footwork, slide as you get tired and banged up. You really have to watch what you're doing when you watch game film to see what you're slipping on.
"If you're banged up and something is not functioning as well as you would like, you still have to work at it, even if you can't practice because you're saving it for the game. You take mental reps, go through things in your head to stay in the game."
Which is where Faneca stays. A No. 1 pick in 1998, he has started 64 consecutive regular-season games and 121 of the 126 he has played in. He's missed two games in his career.
Five times a Pro Bowl pick, Faneca says he enjoys the mental part of his job as much as the application of brute force in the Steelers' potent running game.
When he sits down to look at video of his opponents, he might as well be at the movies staring at a summer blockbuster. He's thoroughly engrossed.
"I really enjoy trying to figure things out. Even though it's challenging to have different looks thrown at you, to me it's like a puzzle," he says. "When you see a team do things that are different, you kind of insert plays you run and figure how it would work out, or how a pass protection would work against that."
Preparation sets the table. The willingness to sell out on the field clears it.
"I just love playing with him," says tackle Marvel Smith, who has lined up next to Faneca on the left side of the Pittsburgh line the last two years. "I'm amazed by his intensity during the game. I know he has made me a better player. You can't help but be a better player being with him."
Smith says it is routine to look at game video and see Faneca execute his block at the line, take on a linebacker and finish the play 30 yards downfield.
"It just rubs off on all the offensive linemen," he says. "We all started looking for extra blocks."
Faneca isn't one to talk much about big offseason plans. He says there isn't much "off" in the offseason and that has only been more true with the Steelers coming off a Super Bowl victory.
"The way I look at it, every season for the last five years has ended with the Pro Bowl, and when that game is over the season has begun because everybody wants to get where you've just been. You always have to find something to get you better and work harder than everybody else," he says.
Yet he'll still find a little time to go back home to Thibodeaux, La., and do a little fishing. Does his mind wander to X's and O's as he tries to hook the elusive redfish and speckled trout on these precious bits of down time?
"I'm just thinking about the fish," he says. "You've got to get away from it. You've got to have some time to prepare yourself for the long haul of the season."