McNeill mulls work ethic after free pass to Hawaii

By Kevin Acee
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

February 7, 2008

KO OLINA, Hawaii - Marcus McNeill walked from what serves as the AFC locker
room at the players' hotel here yesterday and headed to lie down in the sun.
The day's practice was finished, and the remnants of a late night were still
pounding the inside of his head.

He is having fun on Oahu, even though he doesn't necessarily believe he
deserves to be at the Pro Bowl.

"I'm glad I got to come for my family," the Chargers' young left tackle
said. "But I'm disappointed in the year I had. I should have played better."

McNeill vowed yesterday that this year's Pro Bowl appearance will prod him
to greater things, where being voted here in his rookie season last year
perhaps prompted him to simply plod.

"Mentally, I should have been a little more prepared than I was going into
this year," McNeill said. "Nothing is going to be easy, and maybe I felt it
would be. I'm going to come back stronger next season. This is going to make
me better. If you don't have that want and desire, you're not going to push
yourself."

McNeill, who was named to the AFC team as a first alternate after the
Ravens' Jonathan Ogden pulled out with an injury, was largely a wreck
against better defensive ends the first half of the season. He seemed slow,
not the light and aggressive force he had been the previous season.

After allowing five sacks in all of 2006, according to STATS Inc., McNeill
was charged with 9½ through the first 13 games of 2007. But after an
upsetting showing Dec. 9 at Tennessee, he allowed just a half-sack the rest
of the season, including three playoff games.

"He played like an All-Pro the last six weeks," Chargers coach Norv Turner
said.

It was that Dec. 9 game that prompted McNeill's rebound, specifically his
performance against Titans defensive end Kyle Vanden Bosch. A Pro Bowl
starter, Vanden Bosch had three sacks and ran around McNeill. But in their
playoff meeting a month later, he didn't get a sack and hardly ever got by
McNeill.

"You don't beat a guy of his caliber too often," Vanden Bosch said. "I got
fortunate the first time around. He recovered well. He stuck with his
technique the second time. He's a prototypical left tackle - long arms,
taller, good feet. He's got all the tools. He's a top guy."

McNeill believes that too.

"I still feel like I may be one of the top linemen," he said. "I plan on
coming back here again, but not in this fashion. I'm not going to be pleased
with this situation."

Kevin Acee: (619) 293-1857; kevin.acee@uniontrib.com


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