Alan Faneca Quotations

We've always been able to plug guys in and still be successful. There's not as much concern inside this locker room as there is on the outside.

When you've got 50-plus guys doing it one way, those guys will adapt. It may not be who they were, but it's who they became.

Would you want someone doing that in your life? If they don't like how the highway is repaired, are they going to harass them? You go to that bound, that's not right. You're not going to want it to happen to you, but sometimes people don't think that way. Sports brings out the fire in you.

We're just going about business and doing things. We're not sitting on where we are. We're trying to improve.

Right now, I eat three meals a day and take three meal-replacement shakes. But I also put a lot of time in to working out. You can't sit around on your couch and eat chips and think you're going to be 300 pounds and in shape. If you're going to be big, you better be prepared to work at it, too.

But we came out banging for the second half.

I can't really remember exactly what I said. But everyone has told me what I said.

He wiped it completely off and put the next game up there, and that was it. We came in one day, and it was all gone, and he gave the 'One Game at a Time' speech.

He had me choked up a little bit, it means so much to him, to be in the league this long, - to give him a shot like this, it definitely means something.

He did a really good job of making sure we were focused, making sure we had good weeks of practice, making it tough on us. You have to focus more on the road, where things don't come as easily, where you have the crowd noise to deal with.

He's playing like he has been in the league a lot longer than two years. The Broncos were going to force it, the way they blitz, the way they come, and we weren't always going to be able to run it all the time like we do. The pressure was on Ben to make some big passes, and he did.

I think it's a really good assessment. They've shown all season what they can do offensively and defensively and how well they can do it on both sides of the ball, that it takes a great effort just to play on their level.

It goes to personnel and schemes. We run counter blocking a little more than some teams do. It's a personal preference.

I think teams know we're going to try to run the ball on them, and they want to make Ben beat them. These past few weeks, Ben's been doing just that.

Last year, dealing with the championship game and the 15-1 season and all the hype and everything that went with it has definitely helped him deal with what's going on now. He feels and looks like a six- or seven-year guy.

My wife has some family just on their way there who lost their home in New Orleans and are going to stay in Houston for a while.

I think our staff as a whole has a better feel for what works against a 3-4 better than most teams.

I think in a game of that magnitude, there's going to be hype after it, and many people analyzing things. It's something to talk about. That's it. I don't think it's overshadowed what we've done.

I think this team has rallied around him and what he's meant to this organization for so long and knowing that this could be his last ride. The fact that it's in his hometown means a lot to the guys in here to make it happen for him because he's meant that much to us.

Willie might be a key in this game just because of his speed. They have some fast linebackers, but Willie can outrun any of them.

We're our defense's ally, ... We have to get out there and eat up the clock. We have to win the possession game, keep them off the field and keep our defense fresh.

You have to block in this system, it's required.

When you get a chance to prove somebody wrong, much less the entire country, you gotta relish that.

What Jerome means to everybody in that locker room is something special and I think what he means to the organization is something special. If anybody in this organization, team or locker room deserves it, he does because of what he means to us and what he has maintained as the identity of this organization for so long.

You got to perform to be a leader. You have to. You can't really say much when you're not really doing it yourself. You got to pull your own weight and show what you're willing to do to get others to follow.

Exciting? No, it's not exciting. Do you want to go work with some little young kid who's just out of college?

Teams are aware of his speed. They might have to hold the corner longer than if Jerome was in there.

People don't really expect that from us. They know we're trying to get the run going. Maybe they're thinking that a little too much. We're able to open up a little bit.

Any light shed on it is definitely going to be good light.

This can get to anybody if you let it, because it seems to be endless and you get bombarded from all sides. But it goes with the territory, and if you are one of the two teams fortunate enough to make it to the Super Bowl, you had better be prepared to deal with a ton of distractions.

They're trying to create seams, create that little hole, and their backs are trying to read it and hit it. That's their scheme. It goes to personnel and schemes. We counter-block a little more than some teams do. It's a personal preference.

They got the rings and we went home.

They don't take a play off, they're high-motor guys. You can't stop blocking them, because they don't quit coming at you. It's just a talented, hard-working bunch of guys. You see the numbers, 50 sacks, that's pretty telling.

They don't catch everything but it is a surprise. They reset the clock, it slipped and it happened to be for a lot of time. What are you going to do? It's like the coin toss in Detroit on Thanksgiving, what are you going to do?

It's back at the hotel. I didn't realize this was a formal occasion. Pretty much everybody on the team has one. I think Joey (Porter) was the mastermind behind it.

It's back at the hotel. I didn't realize this was a formal occasion.

I told him to give me one more chance.

It's not what they do, it's how much they do. They're so used to doing different things, they can change their scheme up from week to week and make it difficult on you.

It's a loss. We are 2-1. What happened last year doesn't matter. We beat them once and lost to them once. We lost to them when it counted and that's all that matters about last year.

It's always run-first. The last couple of games, people decided to stop the run so we passed the ball, got the lead and sat on the lead. You're not going to set the world on fire when you're up 17 points. Look at the situations: We were trying to kill the clock and trying to pound it out.

Everybody is just thinking that he's the big guy, he's The Bus, and he's going to run you down. He's got a great vision from the field, too. He can pick and choose where the hole is.

They have so many of them coming at you, it can get confusing.

I'm going to miss him. The Steelers are going to miss him. To send him off like this means the world to me. He's a great person.

In our offense, the tight ends are generally one of us,

I love that man. I'm going to miss him. The team is going to miss him. He's a great guy. He means the world to me ... and to everybody in the locker room.

I had friends and family who lost their homes. My home was OK. I live just outside the city.

He's that rock, that guy in the locker room you are always looking for. He's that guy that is cracking jokes and keeping practice lively.

He's everything you want in a quarterback. We wouldn't be where we are today without him leading our offense. I think he's just more relaxed this year and it comes through experience. It's not just X's and O's. He understands the basics.

He's everything you want in a quarterback. He just has that game feel.

I didn't feel that way. But I never thought they were playing soft.

He surprised me. I know veteran players can pretty much kind of get through training camp and then be ready to go the first week. I didn't know that he'd be able to do that. He's definitely showed that he can.

He threw a touchdown pass to Hines (Ward) in the front corner of the end zone through the driving rain. That was a play that you just wouldn't expect a rookie quarterback to be able to make.

I don't think they were in the bad part.

He's not going to jump in front of the line. He's going to wait until we all get off the buses to get in there to the hotel just like everybody else.

You can't really become a leader if you're still finding things out, which every rookie is. We've opened the offense up and I think that's a big part of him getting more comfortable.

The job isn't done. It's 60 minutes of football left to play.