<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><span id="mn_Global"><span id="mn_Article"> During the plane ride home Sunday, assistant head coach Mike Singletary leaned across the aisle to make his point to 49ers Coach Mike Nolan.</p> "He's special," Singletary said.</p> The Hall of Fame linebacker was speaking of rookie Patrick Willis, who continued to look anything like a rookie in the team's 37-31 overtime victory at Arizona. Nolan said he had never heard such high praise from Singletary, who had been reserved in his assessments of Willis in hopes of keeping the team's top draft pick levelheaded amid the hype. But Willis' performance Sunday against the Cardinals impressed even his toughest critic.</p> Playing for the third consecutive week with a cast on his broken right hand, Willis was credited with 18 tackles, the most by a 49er since the NFL started keeping track of tackles in 1994. The previous high was 16 by Jamie Winborn in 2002 against the New York Giants.</p> The most impressive was a touchdown-saving stop in overtime when Willis ran down wide receiver Sean Morey at the 49ers' 24-yard line after a 62-yard catch-and-run. The Cardinals had to settle for a 32-yard field-goal try that Neil Rackers missed. That kept the game alive for the 49ers, who won it moments later with a Ronald Fields sack and a Tully Banta-Cain fumble recovery in the end zone..</p> "Chasing somebody down not only has to do with your speed," Nolan said of Willis' tackle. "It has to do with your want. He's not short on either one of those."</div></p> Source: SJ Mercury News</p> </span></span></p>
