NFL PLAYOFFS : Winning Reception Gives Seay His Place in Charger Lore

Mark Seay might not have been a household name to San Diego fans at the start of the season, but he is now.

In a span of 13 seconds, Seay became a hero for Charger fans everywhere when he caught the winning touchdown pass from Stan Humphries in Sunday’s dramatic come-from-behind 22-21 playoff victory over the Miami Dolphins.

“It could have been a diesel truck coming, (but) I was going to catch the ball,” Seay said of his eight-yard touchdown reception.

“Before we even ran the play, I was thinking that if we get inside the five-yard line that we would run that play.”

Seay’s claim to instant fame was probably one of his easiest catches, thanks to a twist the Chargers put in for the Dolphins off a play San Diego has run all season.

It’s a play that has worked against teams whenever the Chargers got near the goal line. It starts out with Seay going in motion to the left and then running a pass pattern into the left flat after a pulling offensive lineman sets up in front of Humphries.

Against Miami, however, San Diego decided to have Seay reverse his route and slide behind left guard Isaac Davis into the right flat.

“It looks like the same play we’ve run this season and I think that was what (Miami) was thinking, but I caught them off guard by going the other way,” said Seay, who caught six passes for 61 yards. “The key for me was to not get tangled up with the pulling guard and to stay running low so they couldn’t see me.”

Seay ran the pattern so well that Charger offensive coordinator Ralph Friedgen did not see him.

“(The Dolphins) were running a lot of blitzes and the idea was that they would lose the guy underneath,” Friedgen said. “But, even I was having trouble finding (Seay).”

To say that Seay was open would be the understatement of the season.

“All of a sudden, it opened like the Red Sea,” Friedgen said.

Seriously open.

“I’d expected to be open, but I didn’t know that I would be that wide open,” Seay said. “All I know is that it took a long time for the ball to get there.”

So was this the biggest catch of Seay’s career?

“I don’t know,” said Seay, who played at San Bernardino High and Long Beach State. “As far as touchdowns go, it probably is.”

That Seay is playing at all in the NFL is remarkable, considering that he has a bullet lodged only inches from his heart as a reminder of an incident on Oct. 30, 1988.

Seay, then a sophomore at Long Beach State, saved the life of his three-year old niece, Tashwanda, when he draped his body to protect her during a gang shooting at a Halloween party in Long Beach.

Since then, Seay--who had to fight to continue his football career when school officials refused to allow him to play because of the location of the bullet--has downplayed his role as a hero.

“I am not a hero from what I did,” Seay said before the season. “It only let me know how quickly your life can change. You can be walking around one day and on your death bed the next. It teaches you to appreciate life that much more. You take it one day at a time, try to make the best out of the hard days. It’s a blessing, just having your health and a chance to see another day. To me, I’m not a hero.”

But after Sunday, he will always be remembered as one.