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Chris Davis was almost Chargers’ goat

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The role of hero -- that he had down pat.

Chris Davis knows the celebrity that comes with feats of greatness like few athletes in the country.

His 109-yard field goal return in last year’s Iron Bowl was the college football play of the season, if not the decade, and his legacy at Auburn is etched for all eternity.

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But there’s another role the Chargers’ rookie almost embodied Sunday -- one that comes complete with horns and a mountain residence. Yes, on a second-half punt in which San Diego seemed primed to seal its seventh win of the season -- Davis nearly became the goat.

“That was just a football play,” said Davis, who smiled and quipped “what do you want to talk to me about?” when reporters approached him after the game. “Plays like that happen in a football game.”

This particular play occurred with 7:21 left in the third quarter as the Chargers held a 10-point lead over the Rams. Having scored two touchdowns in a 12-second span earlier in the half, it appeared as though SD had taken permanent ownership of the momentum.

Then, as St. Louis punter Johnny Hekker’s kick hung in the air, Davis ran into returner Keenan Allen and caused him to muff the fair catch inside his own 25-yard line. The Rams found the end zone three plays later, and somehow, some way, it was a game again.

Now, you could make the case that Allen could have better communicated his calling for a fair catch so that Davis got out of his way. You could contend, as Allen did to the media later, that Davis was simply trying to protect Keenan and that mistakes like that are going to happen.

But the bottom line is that a rookie collided with a punt returner during a crucial juncture of the game, came perilously close to swinging the outcome, and could have put the Chargers in an borderline unscalable hole heading into the final five games of the season. And Davis wasn’t going to lie -- whether he was at fault or not, the thought of letting down his teammates down spent some time between those ears of his.

“You know, that thought runs through your head,” Davis said. “I was just glad we were able to pull it out.”

Davis’ special teams role has increased with the Chargers over the past few weeks. In fact, if there was one silver lining from San Diego’s 37-0 throttling in Miami, it was Chris establishing himself as a formidable kickoff returner.

Undrafted out of Auburn, the 24-year-old cornerback has been waiting for a chance to contribute, and has embraced his chance as though it were a wining Powerball ticket. Asked Sunday of the pride he took in his responsibilities -- whether it be returning or blocking -- Davis was quick to express his enthusiasm, saying “it’s my job -- so I take a lot of pride in doing my job. I wouldn’t want to work nowhere else.”

The Chargers, of course, hung on to beat the Rams 27-24 and improve to 7-4 on the season. That third-quarter collision has already evaporated from most fans’ memory banks and will have disintegrated completely by the time the Chargers meet the Ravens in Baltimore on Sunday.

For Davis, goat remains an elusive status, but even if it were to happen, his teammates sound as though they’d make him forget it as soon as possible.

“No one’s perfect in this game, or in life, so as an older guy, you gotta tell them ‘we’ll get it back’,” safety Eric Weddle said. “You can’t worry about what you do in the past.”

But you can learn from it, and if Davis does, his future stands to benefit.

Chargers v. Rams 11/23/2014

  • San Diego 27. St Louis 24.
  • Qualcomm Stadium
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