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 .