When Alan Faneca didn't make the cut for induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the outcry from Steelers fans was understandable.
How could the guy who had the best credentials of any of this year's finalists not make it? After all, Faneca was a nine-time Pro Bowl player, made first-team All-Pro six times and second-team two more.
Nobody else on this year's list of finalists could claim that, not even Troy Polamalu.
I stressed that point in my presentation for Faneca in the conference room at Loew's Miami Beach Hotel. You all read here my presentation for Faneca, but what you didn't see was my closing argument.
See, after my presentation, which I made sure stayed just under the allotted five minutes, following the rules set forth, there was discussion about each candidate. Then, things were thrown back to the presenter for final comments.
My final comments went something like this, "Pro Football Reference, since that site was mentioned for a previous finalists, measures Alan Faneca's Hall of Fame Monitor Score, which compares him to other players at his position already in the Hall of Fame, at 141.93. That is the highest of any of this year's finalists by 20 points.
"Faneca's Approximate Value on that site ranks 72nd on the all-time list. His score of 146 is one behind John Hannah, considered by many to be the greatest guard in NFL history, Deion Sanders and Ted Hendricks. Right behind him is Johnny Unitas, all Hall of Fame players.
"He has the most Pro Bowls and All-Pros of anyone in this class. If we were CEOs making a hire of one of these guys, Faneca has the best resume. He would be the hands down hire. And we get to make five hires. Five."
I let that linger there with my hand held aloft with all five fingers out."
I thought it was a powerful finish. Others in the room said so, as well.
But it still wasn't enough to get Faneca a spot.
• So what happened? I truly think the fact that my presentation on Faneca was one of the first of the morning and went before those of Steve Hutchinson and Tony Boselli, the other two offensive linemen on this year's list, hurt.
That is done by luck of the draw. Had I gone after the other two, I could have rebutted some of the things mentioned by the presenters for Hutchinson and Boselli. But I could have done it in as respectful fashion, emphasizing the points in a way that was beneficial to Faneca without ripping the other two.
That was one thing I was told before going into the room. Don't trash the other finalists. That only serves to turn the other voters off on your candidate.
The other thing that hurt was that because so many of the at-large voters also covered specific teams over the years, they had covered some of these players.
Hutchinson, for example, spent five seasons in Seattle, six in Minnesota and one in Tennessee.
There are multiple people who covered the Seahawks long-term in that room, as well as Minnesota.
One of the things about the Pittsburgh media is that we don't generally leave to go elsewhere. So there were fewer people in that room who had covered Faneca on a daily basis.
• That said, there were some who felt at least two of the three linemen deserved to go in this year. Obviously that didn't work out.
But if it's simply measuring Faneca against Boselli, Faneca should win hands down.
Faneca played twice as many games in his career than Boselli. Yes, Boselli played tackle and Faneca guard, but Faneca also spent a season playing left tackle.
And he did things at a high level for more than a decade.
Boselli was great. Of that there is no doubt. Faneca, however, was great for a much longer period of time.
• I think Faneca will have a good chance to make it next year among the players who will be finalists again. There was a feeling among many in the room to take care some of the guys who have been waiting the longest.
That's why some of the players who have been waiting the longest -- Steve Atwater, Sam Mills, LeRoy Butler -- got as much push as they did.
Atwater made it in this year.
There are some good first-year candidates up for election in 2021, including Peyton Manning. But I think Faneca's odds of getting in next year will actually be better now that Hutchinson is in.
• Which leads me to the cries of Steelers bias.
Those are kind of silly, if you ask me. The Steelers have 27 people who have spent time with the franchise who have been voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. That number will grow by three this year with the additions of Polamalu, Bill Cowher and Donnie Shell.
This year's class will bring the total number of Hall of Famers to 346. That means nearly 9 percent of the members of the Hall of Fame will have spent some portion of their career with the Steelers.
That's not a bias against the Steelers. Now, if you want to argue that some players haven't made it because the hall voters wanted to spread things out a little bit, that's true.
I had more than one voter tell me this year that they didn't vote for Faneca because the Steelers already had three people going in.
That's not the fault of Faneca, who was in his fifth year of eligibility. But the Steelers getting 20 percent of this year's Centennial Class was going to be a tough sell.
I knew that when I entered that room.
• The thing that surprised me the most was the fight I had to put up for Polamalu. I considered him a no-brainer. So did many others.
Which is why it surprised me when some members, when we were discussing Polamalu, said they felt the committee had put too many players into the hall in their first year of eligibility in recent years.
They felt that is leading to the backlog of some of the players who have been on the list longer, pushing them down the road until they eventually fall from consideration among the Modern Era finalists to the Veteran's Committee. That happens after a player has been retired for 20 years.
It is a valid point, as players such as Shell can attest. But, as I rebutted, if a player is a first-time Hall of Fame player such as Polamalu, so be it. Generational talents shouldn't be discounted just because of some potential past mistakes.
• Those comments did give me pause, however. We had a break soon after that issue was raised and I spent time talking to other voters during that break, making sure Polamalu was still solid.
As I explained, if Polamalu didn't get in this year, I wasn't going to be able to return to Pittsburgh. There would have been people waiting for me at the airport.
• All in all, it was an interesting process, one I would gladly do again.
And with this being the 100-year anniversary of the league, it was an honor to be a part of that history. Hall of Fame President and CEO David Baker, who presides over the election meeting, drove that point home several times.
• So what was my final vote? I had Polamalu, Faneca, Atwater, Isaac Bruce and Edgerrin James.
I had a more difficult time leaving Richard Seymour off my final list than I did Hutchinson.
Seymour was a dominant defensive lineman who was critical to the success of the early Patriots dynasty.
• The Super Bowl drove home a couple of things to me and they are intertwined.
We saw the Chiefs run 75 offensive plays in that game to 54 for the 49ers.
The 49ers defense is very good. But when you're on the field for that many plays, you're going to wear down. And because the rules favor the offense, you're just playing with fire, even with a great defense, to allow it to run that many plays.
We saw it happen a number of times with the Steelers this season.
Even at that, the 49ers still had a chance to win that game because of that defense. Their pass rush gave Patrick Mahomes fits.
The Steelers defense is the closest comparison to that of San Francisco's in the NFL. And it might actually be better. It was in the second half of the 2019 season.
So, those thinking the Steelers can't compete for a Super Bowl in 2020 need only watch that game to see why the Steelers can -- with some improvements on offense.
Las Vegas agrees. Super Book USA, one odds maker, has the Steelers at 12-1 to win next year's Super Bowl. That is tied with the Patriots. Those are the fourth-best odds in the NFL.
Other books are all in that area on the Steelers. And it's all because of that defense.
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