Let's Talk Turley! An Interview with Pittsburgh Steeler O-Lineman Alan Faneca

Scott Thill

Even if you're not much of a pro football fan, watching Saints QB Aaron Brooks almost get his head snapped off by an oversealous Jets defender must have made the local news.

So did Saints' OL Kyle Turley's ensuing rampage, wherein the outspoken badass tackled Robinson to the ground, ripped his helmet off, proceeding to chuck it and the bird to the Jets faithful who probably were trying to retrieve their beers from off the floor.

But perspective is needed, especially when it comes to trench warfare. So I called Steelers OL Alan Faneca and asked him about it. And other things.

Scott Thill: Ok, you're on the O-line, which is basically the last defense for the sitting duck quarterback. So what's your take on the Turley situation?

Alan Faneca: (Laughs) I didn't know anything was going on until I heard something on the radio about Turley gets fined 25 grand by the Saints. And then I saw it; that was a crazy situation. But I totally agree. I didn't even see the whole play so I don't even know how anybody got to Brooks but it's our job. We're enlisted to protect the quarterback -- if someone is doing something that's not cool, trying to hurt a guy, that's not right.

Take this job and shove it! Kyle Turley finds a launch window for headhunter Damien Robinson's helmet. (AP Photo/Bill Haber)

I probably would have reacted the same way. I don't know about the helmet tossing or flipping off the crowd, but… I met Kyle before -- I don't want to say that I know him -- but we met at some college All-American thing, and he's a good guy. It's just that when you get out there and get caught up in those emotions, you just gotta control it. Especially when you're giving your team a chance to tie or win the game. I mean, that's what really blows my mind.

ST: That's what I'm thinking is the real problem here. Do you think would have even been a big deal if it was down on the other side of the field?

AF: Well, I mean, everybody made a big deal about Terrell Owens a couple years ago when he scored a touchdown on Dallas and ran all the way back to the 50, did a little dance on the emblem. And I think they won that game pretty big. That's another thing -- I didn't find out the Saints were on the goal line until later. Someone said they were on the 5, and I just assumed they were on the other 5. But, it's not cool to do those things. Especially when you're going in to tie the game. That's letting the team down big-time. No matter how much you're protecting your quarterback.

Sure, Damien Robinson looks nice on the surface. But he's a neck-breaker underneath! (AP Photo/File)

ST: I think that's the big issue here - the game was lost on it. Because Robinson looked as if he was about to pull Brooks' head off. I mean, Kordell is on the run a lot. Do you guys ever talk about these things like, "Alan, if he starts yanking my head off, help me?"

AF: No, but I think it's just understood. I mean, that's your quote-unquote leader of the offense, you know, for any team. And most teams revolve around their quarterback and so do their offenses. Protect your quarterback. You gotta do what you gotta do, but I do think the flinging of the helmet and flipping off of the stadium was excessive. That's just over the top, you know?

ST: So what about the Steelers? How's Kris Brown feeling? I know the team has kinda rallied around him.

AF: He's doing good, I think. It's tough for anybody who has a bad game because you have to wait for seven days to go out there and prove yourself again. And he gets so few chances to prove himself as it is. I think that's probably what makes it tougher on kickers in general.

ST: They don't get as many opportunities.

AF: Yeah, I mean, he was one for five. He got five chances last week and he screwed up four of them, so he might get only one or two chances to make up for it this weekend.

ST: It might take a couple of weeks to put it all back together.

AF: Yeah, to put it behind him. It takes awhile. You want to get back on the field and prove yourself, put everything behind you and get it overwith. And with kickers not playing that much, it makes it even tougher for him.

ST: Not to make an excuse for him, but it looked like he got hit while he was kicking one of them and maybe got hurt.

AF: Yeah, I think he was initially, but he shook it off and was fine. I think it was more of a stun; the guy blocked the ball, hit him and caught him in a bad position. But I think he shook it off. The kickers go down and hang out by the offensive line bench and he looked fine.

ST: Your division is doing well.

AF: Yeah, Baltimore's been coming alive again and Cleveland's been doing well. Everybody else might not have good records, but they all have good teams. I know that it's been two or three years running that our division leader has been the AFC champion, with the Ravens winning the Super Bowl last year, so it's a tough division.

ST: Kordell seems like he's getting into a groove.

AF: The past two games we've passed the ball more than we've run the ball, which I think might be the first time all season long that we've done that. And we needed that to win against Tennessee because they were putting nine or ten guys up in the box and forcing us to win by the pass. And it was good to see us do just that, because I don't think we really knew we could do it. We hadn't yet done it going into that Tennessee game, and we did it in our last game, too. It makes you feel good about your offense even though we lost that last game, you know?

Holler at 'em! Jerome Bettis hs quietly put together a Pro Bowl season. Again. (Pierre Ducharme/Reuters)

ST: Talking about ten guys in the box, coming into this year no one was talking about Jerome. But he's kicking butt.

AF: I think a lot of it goes with your record. When we win, you get the recognition and you kind of get forgotten when you're on teams like last year's, where we started out bad but finished up strong. Or two years before, when we won six or seven games. Nobody talks about the losers in the NFL too much, even if you do have good players.

ST: Unless you're Corey Dillon.

AF: Yeah exactly. Unless you're piling up asinine amounts of yardage all the time. Then it's kinda hard not to talk about you.

ST: You play with the guy all the time. Do you think he's still a force to be reckoned with?

AF: Oh yeah, Jerome is Jerome. Everyone around here wants to talk about how they think he's healthier this year than he's been in the past, and it may or may not be true, but he's been running the ball well for the past couple of years even though we haven't been winning that much. I mean, he's had 1,400-yard seasons and he's a great back. I don't know how many 240-pound running backs you're gonna have that get 10,000 yards in the NFL. I think when it's all said and done, he's gotta be considered a Hall of Fame back.

ST: How do you see the rest of the season shaping up for the Steelers now that you have some games under your belts?

AF: Man, we gotta win some games. We've got to win some games to put us in a good situation coming down the stretch through December, to put ourselves in a position where we not fighting to make the playoffs, we're actually fighting to see where we'll end up inside the playoff bracket. I think it's nothing but exciting, because anyone who's been with us for the past couple of years hasn't been in the playoffs in a long time or at all. We've got guys just feeding off that excitement an energy of playing well, getting motivated.

ST: This is kind of a touchy subject, but Korey Stringer's family is suing the Vikings, probably for something like negligence. I would guess that the organization goes into these things with their players' safety first in their minds. True?

AF: You know, it is a tough situation because you have to look at his family and his wife, and what their losses are. And there's a loss on the Vikings team, as well. They could have been negligible and it could have been their fault. But the only way you can pass judgment on it is if you know the facts. And I'm sure it'll take them some time to put it all together. I mean, I've heard that guys on the team are going to have to testify. It really all depends on what happened on that field on that day.

ST: Well, you played at LSU in some stifling heat. Is it just each human being's threshold for pain or exhaustion? Were there times where you said, "Damn why are we out here?"

AF: Man, they had fluids everywhere, all the time. Gatorade and water was all over the field. We'd take a five-minute break during practice to go eat Popsicles, fruit or something like that, but people would still pass out. It's sad to say but having ambulances and fire trucks come onto the field during practice and two-a-days was a regular occurrence.

ST: Holy!

AF: Yeah, our team doctor used his vacation time during training camp to be there in case anything happened, to give IV's and make sure everyone was OK.

ST: Did you ever pass out?

AF: No, no. It really depends on what you can handle. A lot of it has to do with they way you take care of your body, what you're eating and drinking before you even get out there. Where is your body at even before you step on the field?

Scott Thill -- a media fanatic who finds the time to write on everything that does not include the words "boy band" -- is a gainfully employed dotcom editor currently finishing his first novel, The Dangerous Perhaps.