Super Bowl Champ Glenn Cadrez Details Saving Man From Fiery Crash

Two-time Super Bowl champion Glenn Cadrez is being hailed as a hero after he saved a man from a fiery crash in California last weekend ... but he tells TMZ Sports his thoughts are with those who were unable to escape the fatal accident.

Cadrez -- a longtime Denver Broncos linebacker during the John Elway era -- went into detail about the August 23 incident, saying he was leaving his son's youth football game when he dodged a head-on collision in front of him on I-15 in Temecula.

Both cars burst into flames after the crash ... and Cadrez, 55, pulled over and sprang into help a 25-year-old man escape.

"By the time I turned around, the car was engulfed in flames," Cadrez said. "I mean biggest reddest flames, dark black smoke."

Tragically, Cadrez was informed the next day that four people were killed in the accident.

The California Highway Patrol confirmed those who perished were a 23-year-old woman, a boy and a girl ages 14 and 15, and another person in the other car.

"The four deaths -- I didn't even know, and at the time when I was pulling him out, I thought there were no casualties. I thought it was just an injury with him and the other guy," Cadrez said.

"So it kinda hit a little harder the next day, and I hope he is okay. I have two kids, so it really kinda hit home for me, and I squeezed my kids a little tighter last night."