Alan Faneca's Hall of Fame-worthy account of his signature Steelers moment

As is the case with many Pro Football Hall of Famers, most of the Steelers in Canton, Ohio, delivered a “Hall of Fame moment.”

That one iconic piece of video. That one unforgettable highlight which captures the player’s essence. Usually on a big stage like the playoffs or the Super Bowl.

Lynn Swann and John Stallworth had iconic Super Bowl catches. Terry Bradshaw and Franco Harris were MVPs in “the big game.”

When Ben Roethlisberger goes in, the first clip on his video resume will be the Super Bowl XLIII touchdown pass to Santonio Holmes. For Troy Polamalu, look no further than his interception for a touchdown against the Baltimore Ravens in the 2008 AFC Championship Game.

Finding such moments is a lot harder for the offensive linemen, by the very nature of their position. It’s one of the reasons why differentiation between the really good ones and the elite that deserve Hall of Fame inclusion is so nebulous.

It’s also part of the reason I never understood why it took Steelers great Alan Faneca so long to get into the Hall of Fame. He clearly had a Hall of Fame resume, with six All-Pro selections and nine Pro Bowls. Plus, even at guard — arguably the most anonymous of NFL positions — he authored one of those moments. In a Super Bowl, no less.

Yet it still took Faneca six tries to get in before he finally got the call last weekend. And he has been overwhelmed with congratulations ever since.

“I could never keep up,” Faneca told the ‘DVE Morning Show on Monday. “I’d get 200 texts to catch up on. I’d get through 20. And then there would be 40 more. It’s been great hearing from all my buddies and teammates.”

During that radio appearance, what stood out to me was Faneca’s vivid and detailed re-creation of his all-too-rare “O-line Hall of Fame moment.”

Steelers fans know it well. Faneca’s block to spring Willie Parker on his 75-yard touchdown run against the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XL.

The longest run in Super Bowl history.@3williethadude9 | #SBXL | #OTD pic.twitter.com/KCGccANVcs

— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) February 5, 2021

This version of the clip with the original Super Bowl play-by-play call from Al Michaels and John Madden better illustrates Faneca pulling from his left guard spot to the right side of the line to open up the lane for Parker’s jaunt. And you can hear Michaels and Madden heap praise on Faneca for his effort on the play and his reputation as one of the best in the game.

It wasn’t a one-man show. The play was blocked perfectly on all fronts. Watch as center Jeff Hartings, left tackle Marvel Smith and right guard Kendall Simmons create a wall on the left side as Faneca vacates for his pull into Leroy Hill. Notice how Max Starks aides on one block and then jumps deep into the second level to take out Lofa Tatupu.

Hines Ward and Heath Miller did their jobs on the right side as well. Did Miller get away with a hold? Seattle fans probably think so. They still complain about seemingly every penalty call or non-call in that game that favored the Steelers.

But if Miller did, it was certainly no more or less obvious than the one Seattle offensive lineman Sean Locklear committed that Seahawks fans insist never happened.

But I digress. Back to Faneca’s account of the moment, which he described to WDVE with remarkable detail.

“We had a great setup. The coaches had a plan,” Faneca recalled. “We were trying to get them to overplay. It was an audible on six, seven, eight plays.”

Finally, on the second snap of the third quarter, from second-and-10 at their own 25, the Steelers went to 34-counter pike.

“Just to see it come together and happen in the moment. You are in your stance and all of the sudden you realize holy (expletive), we are about to call this play. We are about to do it,” Faneca remembered. “So I go over there. We do the audible. Big Ben calls it. I get my block, and I just wanted to see the whole thing go down. I don’t ever hit my block and spin around. I just hit it and turned and spun around and I wanted to see Willie run down the field.”

The views that best encapsulate Faneca’s description of himself popping up from his block, wide-eyed as Parker ran for the goal line were snapped by Sports Illustrated and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

“I don’t think I’ve seen the photo in a decade. And somebody showed it to me the other day. It’s a photo from the end zone, and Willie is running at it. And I had just spun around on the ground to watch. It was amazing. It was awesome,” Faneca said.

Of course, No. 66 is not the guy centered up in either frame. Is that ever the case for a guard? But the pictures sum up Faneca’s account.

As if we need them. Any Steelers fan who was watching that game that day has that image of Parker barreling through the open field emblazoned in their mind’s eye. But Faneca saw it from an entirely different point of view.

Now he’ll be seeing the Hall of Fame from a different point of view as well. From the podium. Giving an induction speech. Hopefully, this summer if restrictions because of the coronavirus pandemic finally start to yield.

That day can’t come soon enough for everyone, to be allowed to gather again for a celebration like that. And it certainly can’t come soon enough for Faneca, who has had to wait too long for his actual Hall of Fame moment in Canton.

But the one he scripted in Detroit 15 years ago would have always been enough for Steelers fans to consider him Hall of Fame worthy.