McCree sees all, hears all

Sunday, Oct 29, 2006
By Tom Shanahan, Chargers.com

The Chargers knew free safety Marlon McCree was one of those unique players with vision and leadership. That’s why they signed him as a free agent in the offseason.

As it turns out, he has good ears, too.

In the third quarter of the Chargers’ 38-24 win Sunday over the St. Louis Rams at Qualcomm Stadium, the Rams were driving for what would be a tying touchdown. But as Rams running back Stephen Davis broke through the line and McCree positioned himself for the tackle, he saw the ball come loose.

McCree pounced on the fumble and his first instinct was to lay there and protect the ball. If he never moved until the whistle, it would have been a big play.

But McCree said he heard linebacker Carlos Polk yelling, “Get up! Get up! That’s when a big play became bigger. McCree got up and returned the fumble 79 yards for a touchdown and 21-7 lead with 8:56 left in the third quarter.

“I heard Carlos and I thought to myself, ‘Nobody touched me,’ ” McCree said. “I got up and guys made a couple of great blocks for me so I could get to the sideline.”

One of those last blocks came from cornerback Quentin Jammer. He noticed Rams wide receiver Torry Holt, a speedster, closing quickly on McCree. Jammer was able to get a shoulder on Holt to knock him out of the play and McCree had clear sailing the final 50 yards to the end zone.

“I saw my man with the ball and I started to run up the field (after the fumble),” Jammer said. “But I saw nobody was in front of him, so then you start looking behind to see who’s coming. I saw Torry Holt coming and it looked like he would get him.”

Not once Jammer knocked him flat, he wouldn’t.

McCree, who also was second on the team in tackles with seven to linebacker Donnie Edwards’ 13, said it was important for the defense to come up with a game-changing play after the Kansas City Chiefs drove into position for a field goal in the final seconds last week to beat the Chargers, 30-27.

“We felt last week we let the team down,” he said. “We pride ourselves in being the No. 1 defense in the league. We should have come up with a few more stops last week. This week we emphasized sudden changes in the game from turnovers or whatever. We have to be able to go out there and get those guys off the field.”

McCree, a sixth-year veteran, now owns the third-longest fumble return for a touchdown in Chargers history.

“It feels great to hear the crowd screaming,” McCree said. “It’s an unbelievable feeling. To get seven points, it was big. We needed it. That was a good football team we beat. Some people said they were going to beat us."

It was McCree’s second career touchdown, but it wasn’t his longest return for a score. In the 2003 season while playing for the Houston Texans, he intercepted Tennessee Titans quarterback Steve McNair and returned the ball 95 yards for a touchdown.

“They all feel good,” McCree said. “Whether it’s 80 or 95 yards, you‘re still out of breath and you can‘t breath for a couple of series. But I wouldn‘t trade that feeling for the world.”