Should He Stay Or Should He Go? - Alan Faneca

"Roethlisberger back to pass, he scrambles, and he is brought down by the defense." Steelers fans have not been used to hearing that before this season. OK figure this, the New England Patriots were sacked 21 times this season; our beloved Steelers, 47 times. That's more than twice as much as the Patriots. In years before, the Steelers were known to have the most intimidating line in the NFL but that has changed. Some experts believe that the downright terrible play from the offensive line was due to the Steelers changing form a power running team to a passing team, but I disagree. Many times during the season, not only were the offensive linemen missing blocks, they were just confused. I mean don't get me wrong, the Steelers ran the ball pretty well this year, but a JV defensive line could have been in Roethlisberger's face . Thank god Big Ben is 6'5'' and can run because if he wasn't, the Steelers could be looking at 60 sacks.

The Steelers management has a heck of a job in front of them: fix the offensive line. For some people who don't understand football, this may seem like an easy job, but it's far from it. For example, Steve Hutchinson was considered one of the best offensive linemen in the league while with the Seahawks. During his stay in Seattle, Shaun Alexander, the Seahawks running back, came within two yards of the rushing title. The next year, the Seahawks thought they could go on without Hutchinson. Wrong! In the years since the Pro Bowl Guard left Seattle, Shaun Alexander has not reached 1,000 yards rushing. Now get this, this year while with the Vikings, Hutchinson anchored arguably the best offensive line in football. He made rookie of the year Adrian Peterson look like a Hall-of-Famer, and helped Chester Taylor rush for 800 yards. OK so lets get this straight, good offensive lineman + decent running back = very good running game.

So all the Steelers management has to do is sign a few decent linemen and build them around Alan Faneca? Well that would be the ideal situation, but for some reason the Steelers will not resign one of the best offensive linemen in the NFL. Why would they do something like this? Well believe it or not they've done it with some other good players in the past. Remember Jason Gildon after he left Pittsburgh? Well neither do I. Other than the game against the Steelers, Joey Porter did nothing. And Chad Scott is the nickelback for the Patriots (which means he plays like twice a game). 

Even though the Steelers have been good when releasing "key" players, it has backfired. Remember Plaxico Burress? Well he is going to be catching passes next weekend in the NFC championship game. To name a few others that had success after the Steelers cut them: Rod Woodson, Greg Lloyd, and All-Pro Mike Vrabel. Could Faneca be the next player to have success after being cut by the Steelers? I believe that he WILL. Ok so where does that leave the Steelers? Remember the Seahawks after they released Hutchinson? Well I believe the Steelers will be FAR worse. 

Why? Well, the Steelers best other offensive lineman is Marvel Smith and he has done nothing the last few years. Also Willie Parker will be coming off a season ending injury, so that means the Steelers running game will struggle. Even though Parker rushed for 1316 yards, he scored only 2 touchdowns. Parker is a unique back, many times during the season, he was very streaky. What I mean by that is that he had great games where he rushed for 100, 150 yards, but then at other times, he ran for 37, 42, and 52 yards. He is like a batter in the MLB, he looks like an all- pro at times, and at other times he looks just bad. 

So how would the Steelers help Parker come back on a good note? Easy, get him in a "groove." Now how would a team do that? Well for teams with a good offensive line, they just put him back in like nothing else happened. Well thats a problem for the Steelers. That Faneca guy won't be there and the rest of the line sucks. Mahan is an idiot, Simmons can't play anymore, and the Tackles change more than the Dolphins' head coaches. They could draft offensive linemen in the draft, but unless your name is Joe Thomas, you won't see playing time for a few years.

With no running game, the Steelers will be forced to throw the football. This year, when Roethlisberger was allowed to throw a lot, he was picked. When throwing 30+ times a game, he was intercepted 11 times. OK so not only will the Steelers be unable to run, they will not score next year, leaving it up to a defense that is getting old and possibly starting two 2 year linebackers.

My advise to the Steelers, cut whoever so they can sign Faneca.

My advise to Faneca, if the organization, as you say, is treating you like crap, then leave an offensive line that may end up being the downfall to the Steelers.

2008-2009 prediction:

With Faneca: 10-6

Without Faneca 7-9