CANTON, Ohio — If you guessed that Eric Allen’s favorite play ever is his acrobatic, winding, twisting 93-yard interception return against the Jets in 1993 — a play NFL Films president Steve Sabol called the greatest interception return in NFL history — you’d be wrong.
What play could possibly be higher on Allen’s own ranking of his favorite plays? It’s a play that wasn’t even an interception.
Allen, who goes into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday, counted down his five favorite plays for NBC Sports Philadelphia.
No. 1: “We lose, we’re not in the playoffs”
Eagles 17, Washington 13, Dec. 20, 1992, the Vet
The situation: The Eagles led 17-13 with two seconds left in the game, but Washington had a 2nd-and-goal from the 5-yard-line. The Eagles needed a win to clinch a playoff berth.
Eric remembers: “I think No. 1 — and some people may be surprised — but it was that play in the end zone against Washington that put us in the playoffs.
“So whatever player we were facing who was most likely to get the ball on third down or a big passing down, I would go outside and cover him.
“Now, everybody who’s in the Hall of Fame or a great player has like a superpower, that one thing they have that separates them from everyone else. If you’re Darrell Green or Deion (Sanders), you have 4.2 speed. If you’re Reggie (White), you have this unbelievable strength and athleticism at that size. And on and on.
“So I had good enough speed and strength to be able to go out and compete. But my superpower was how I processed information. And I could watch film, and when that team lined up, I could mentally go back into the library and say, ‘Oh yeah, they’re trying to do this right now.’ And you have, you know, like three or four seconds to be able to push all this information through before you act. It’s one thing to have the information. It’s another thing to act on it in a few seconds. And that was really my superpower.
“So it’s the last play of the game and Washington is on like the 5-yard-line and we need to keep them out of the end zone to win the game and go to the playoffs. So I’m lined up, I’m in the slot (opposite Ricky Sanders). I go in motion, and now I’m like, ‘OK, hold up. This is the most important play of the game. They need a touchdown. So why are they sending this dude in motion when they have Gary Clark?’ I mean, if we lose, we’re not in the playoffs. Gary wasn’t Art Monk, who’s in the Hall of Fame, but back then he was really slippery in the slot and always had a lot of success against us.
“So I’m processing all this as I’m running across the formation and I’m like, ‘Yeah, they’re going to try to throw the ball to Gary Clark, and Otis Smith was on Gary and I knew what Mark was going to do. So I basically stopped and turned the other way toward Gary, and I guessed right. Rypien threw it (to Clark), and I was able to stick my right hand out and bat the ball down, and we win the game, go to the playoffs.
“You know, I was right. But if I’m wrong? I’m the goat, and not the goat that we all like these days. The other goat. The bad goat. So that’s why that’s my favorite play. Because you have to trust your preparation and then you have to take action, and that’s what I did on the biggest play of the year.”
No. 2: “Something in my brain made me push it a little bit more”
Eagles 35, Jets 30, Oct. 3, 1993, Giants Stadium
The situation: The Jets led 30-28 with 6:17 left in the game and had a 2nd-and-9 on the Eagles’ 20-yard-line. Boomer Esiason tried to connect with receiver Chris Burkett, but Allen picked off the pass at the 6-yard-line and returned it 94 yards for a touchdown. Earlier in the game, the Eagles lost Randall Cunningham for the season with a broken leg.
Eric remembers: “Yeah, then No. 2 would be the Jets interception at the Meadowlands. Boomer just threw the ball kind of like a back shoulder ball, and he was a little off. And as I was breaking down on the receiver, I noticed the ball was behind him.
“I always thought I could play receiver. You know, being on the team with Mike Quick and Cris Carter and seeing all those great catches and we’d have contests with the DBs and receivers and stuff like that. So I always took pride in my hand-eye coordination and being one of those cornerbacks that could catch and not just playing cornerback because you’re a frustrated receiver.
“So the big thing there was just catching the ball, and I’m breaking on the ball and it’s a little bit behind the receiver, and I remember having to kind of jump and kind of contort my body a little bit to be able to catch it. I catch it like a back-shoulder fade kind of, and I catch it and I turn around and my eyes look up and then things started going in slow motion for me, and I could just kind of see holes open up.
“But I remember, I think when I picked the ball off as I’m looking up I see players walking off the field. Like, ‘Oh, you know, he’s getting the interception but he’s going (out of bounds).’ I was like, ‘What? They don’t think I’m going to (return it)?’ So that’s kind of when I started doing all the stuff — the spins, the step-back, the side-to-side and all that stuff.
“And when I’m hitting that corner trying to get to the sideline Ben Smith comes over and throws that great block and I run into the end zone. You know, Randall was the ultimate weapon but never really had an opportunity to play and perform year after year and have that experience. It was always, great year, injured, great year, injured year. And as I’m running into the end zone, I see Randall just standing in the tunnel with the crutches and it’s just kinda like, ‘Man, another year where we don’t have this great ultimate weapon to help us try and navigate this season.’
“So that’s when I handed the ball to him. The whole thing was crazy how it played out. You can’t make this stuff up.”
No. 3: “That was the nail in the coffin”
Eagles 36, Saints 20, Jan. 3, 1993, Superdome
The situation: The Eagles, who hadn’t won a playoff game in 12 years, trailed the Saints 20-10 going into the fourth quarter of their wild-card game at the SuperDome. But they scored 26 unanswered points in the most lopsided fourth quarter in playoff history and won 36-20. The Eagles had already scored 19 points when the Saints had a 2nd-and-10 on their own 16-yard-line with 2:13 left. That’s when Allen picked off Bobby Hebert at the Saints’ 18 and returned it for a touchdown.
Eric remembers: “Coming out after halftime and knowing the situations we had been in in the previous years (in the playoffs), it just felt like that was a moment that we had to find a way defensively to make some plays and get back in the game. And it felt like early on we were a bit, not nervous, but just apprehensive of making plays.
“So on that play, I’m in the slot, and I used to tease Reggie about this all the time, on his sack, I came up to the line of scrimmage and their tackle cheated out toward me. And he gets a sack on the play. So I would tell Reggie, ‘They slanted toward me because they didn’t want any part of me,’ and, ‘I got you that sack.’
“But the interception was one of those perfect examples of understanding what the situation called for knowing what they had done in the past and taking advantage of mistakes. So it was like a hot route. If he was going to get any pressure, he was going to throw a quick out. So we had pressure, and the receiver (Wesley Carroll) ran too deep of a route. So it’s my leverage. I should have been inside, but I always like to play a little bit shaded outside so I can see the receiver and I can see the quarterback through him so now whatever the receiver is doing if I can get my key from the quarterback and his shoulders are already turned I couldn’t care less what this guy is doing.
“So a lot of those interceptions, I’m breaking before the ball’s even off the guy’s hands, the receiver’s like five yards down the field, running the wrong route, things like that. So that was one of those. The preparation kicked in, the situation was perfect, with just enough pressure where he can get the ball out.
“I just remember catching it, and as I’m running, I’m turning back and I’m kind of looking at all the guys on our team celebrating and knowing that that was going to be the nail in the coffin and we’re going to move on to Dallas and we thought we had a chance to get to the Super Bowl.
“So that’s what that celebration was. It wasn’t really about the interception. It was like we formulated a plan in the locker room. We’re able to come out at halftime and be able to put that pressure on them. And when the play was presented, I was able to make the play. And we got to move on.”
No. 4: “How dare you throw the ball to this dude!”
Eagles 27, Cowboys 0, Texas Stadium, Nov. 23, 1989
The situation: The Eagles already led the Cowboys 24-0 with 5:20 left in the third quarter but Dallas had a 3rd-and-10 on the Eagles’ 13-yard-line as they tried to avert the shutout. Troy Aikman targeted wide receiver James Dixon, who had just 26 catches in his brief NFL career, and E.A. was there to pick him off.
Eric remembers: “This is funny because my boys — out of all the highlights from my career that are on YouTube — my sons watch this one the most. And it’s the interception in Dallas where I spike the ball on the receiver. I mean, every week they’re looking at that and cracking up and laughing and stuff.
“And again, that goes back to the preparation. And I remember the receivers trying to influence me to go inside. But I had studied enough film to know that in that situation, they’re throwing corner route. So he’s doing all this stuff with his shoulders and his head and he’s doing his best and I’m taking off to the corner even before he breaks.
“So I intercept the ball and it wasn’t Michael Irvin who I was on, it was someone else and I was so … not disappointed, but I was like, ‘How can you throw this guy the ball and I’m covering it?’ That’s the kind of feeling I had. I was like, ‘How dare you throw the ball to this dude when I’m covering it? You should know better,’ and that’s why I spiked it on him.
“And we got the shutout, and we really wanted to get a shutout against the Cowboys. Always gotta beat the Cowboys.”
No. 5: “Credit that one to Wes”
Eagles 32, Oilers 23, Oct. 2, 1988, the Vet
The situation: This was a 3½-hour brawl between two teams who seemed more interested in proving who was tougher than actually winning a football game. There were 31 combined penalties committed — 5th-most in NFL history — and the Eagles committed 19 of them, 10th-most in NFL history (and a franchise record). Allen had an INT off Oilers QB Cody Carlson in the third quarter, but the play he loves from that game wasn’t an INT but a big hit that sent an Oilers WR to the hospital.
Eric remembers: “And then the fifth one, I would say, when I knocked the Houston Oiler guy out (Ernest Givins). I knocked him out. He was running like an over route, a deep over route. And I remember coming, I was like, ‘I can either intercept this ball or this would be a really good pop.’
“You know, I can really stick this guy. It was pretty early in the season and it was the Oilers, so, yeah, I’m going for the hit. I hit him so hard and I’m thinking that Wes (Hopkins) had told me, ‘Hey, you just have to make sure tackling wise you tackle early in the season and put it on film. And then everyone will think you’re just this great tackler.’ Because, he’s like, ‘You’re a cornerback. And if you don’t tackle, people are going to run sweeps at you in every important situation.’
“So I just kind of wanted to make a splash and let everybody know that I was a good tackler early in the season. So we can credit that one to Wes.
“But, yeah, he came across the middle and I hit him and knocked him out. And I was like standing, you don’t realize and I didn’t do this to demean him or anything. But as I was standing, it was like I was standing like Superman. I was standing like Superman over him. It was a pretty cool shot.”
