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Friday, October 08, 1999 By Gerry Dulac, Post-Gazette Sports Writer
Alan Faneca thinks it might be easier for him to miss practice if he were a seasoned veteran, not a second-year player in the National Football League who is just 22 years old.
That's part of the reason Faneca returned to practice yesterday and worked a little with the first-team offense at his usual left guard position.
He's still learning.
And the Steelers need him.
"It's bad for me because I'm trying to get the second year under my belt and I'm battling this injury," said Faneca, who sustained a high-ankle sprain in the season opener in Cleveland and deactivated for last Sunday's loss to Jacksonville.
Faneca had been wearing a protective boot since the weekend to help the healing process, but he discarded it yesterday and worked with his teammates for the first time since he played in the 29-10 loss to the Seattle Seahawks on Sept. 26. He is listed as questionable for Sunday's game in Buffalo.
Without Faneca and right tackle Chris Conrad, who has not played the past two games because of a knee injury, the Steelers' running game has been non-existent. Conrad has been practicing with the team, albeit lightly, but Anthony Brown has been working with the first unit at right tackle.
The Steelers have been trying to develop some consistency on the offensive line by practicing with the same players they expect to use in the game. But they've had so much turnover with free-agent defection, retirement and injuries the past year that continuity has been difficult to achieve.
"It's like that now for a lot of teams in the NFL with free agency," Faneca said. "We just got to get to know each other that much faster. We have to get in the film room and spend more time with each other. It's not like the old days where the same line is together for years."
Doug Flutie is so small for an NFL quarterback that he looks like a box of his own "Flutie Flakes" when he stands in the pocket. He is 5 feet 10, 170 pounds and has the boyish face of a choir boy.
But Flutie said his size has never prevented him from seeing over much taller defensive linemen.
"I don't know what it's like to stand in the pocket at 6-3," Flutie said. "I just know what it's like to stand in there at 5-10. I'm seeing the same thing I've seen my whole life.
"It's no different than college ball. It's no different than Canada. For the most part I drop back and I see three lanes. I know all quarterbacks drift and slide. If you're standing right in there and looking, and you're throwing the ball directly over the defensive lineman's head, they'll reach in there and knock it down. I don't care if you're 6-4 or 6-10. Your point of release is not much higher than a defensive lineman can reach."
Steelers owner Dan Rooney was able to get approval for his plan of realigning to eight four-team divisions when the new Houston franchise joins the National Football League in 2002.
The new setup would keep the existing total of 16 games, but they would be broken down as such: Six games within your own division, four within your conference, four against a division from the other conference and two wildcard games.
But Rooney said he does not favor going to a shorter preseason and playing 18 regular-season games, as has been suggested.
"When you start adding games, you lessen the importance of each game," Rooney said.
Rooney said the league will put Houston in the AFC because it did not want two teams from Texas -- the Dallas Cowboys are the other -- in the NFC.
Coach Bill Cowher is a little concerned about his coverage units on special teams, and rightfully so.
In the past three games, the Steelers have yielded punt returns of 94, 29 and 28 yards and kick returns of 63 and 56 yards. The Steelers rank 29th in the NFL in punt-return average.
Part of the problem, Cowher said, is that the team has a lot of new faces, primarily rookies, on the coverage teams.
"We've suffered a little bit because of it," Cowher said.
While Faneca returned to practice, free safety Travis Davis (knee) did not. He was replaced by rookie Scott Shields.
Outside linebacker Mike Vrabel, one of the team's inside rushers in the dime defense, could resume practicing next week after fracturing his right forearm in the season opener.
Vrabel said doctors want to make sure he has full movement and flexibility in his arm before they will let him back on the field. He has been running and lifting weights with one arm in an attempt to keep up his conditioning.
Many of the Steelers players, coaches and front office employees will show up for work today wearing denim, their way of supporting funding for breast cancer research.
It's all part of National Lee Denim Day, which benefits the Susan G. Komer Breast Cancer Foundation and the local Race For The Cure, which is also sponsored by the National Football League. In conjunction, the Steelers World Headquarters shop at the Prime Outlets in Grove City will offer a 20 percent discount today on all Steelers denim items.
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