Matt Allen (born October 23, 1977) is a former

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

punter in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). Allen played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

at Troy State and signed as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

with the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. The Falcons were founded o ...

in 2001. He played for one season with Falcons and

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The ...

Early life

Allen played football, basketball, and baseball for Calvary Christian Academy.

College career

Allen played for Troy State University.

NFL career

Before joining the Giants, Allen played for the

in the preseason. In his lone NFL season, Allen had 63 punts for 2,326 yards with 2,045 net yards and an average 36.9 yards per punt. He is infamously known for attempting a pass to

Rich Seubert Richard Thomas Seubert (; born March 30, 1979) is an American former professional football guard who played his entire career with the New York Giants of the National Football League (NFL). Early life Born in Stratford, Wisconsin, Seubert atten ...

after a botched snap from

Trey Junkin Abner Kirk "Trey" Junkin III (born January 23, 1961) is an American former professional football long snapper who played in the National Football League (NFL). Junkin played college football for the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs. Although considered ...

on a field goal attempt to win the game on the last play of the Giants- 49ers NFC Wildcard game on January 5, 2003. The pass fell incomplete, ending the Giants' season, although an obvious pass interference penalty wasn't called by officials. Had that penalty been called, the Giants would have had another chance to kick the winning field goal, as it would have offset their own ineligible man downfield penalty and resulted in an extra, untimed down. However, as it was not 4th down and the team had a timeout left, Allen also could have earned another field goal attempt if he had taken a knee and then used the time out. This play ended up being #10 on

NFL Top 10 ''NFL Top 10'' is a documentary program produced by NFL Films for airing on the NFL Network. The host and narrator is Derrin Horton. The program counts down 10 items directly related to the players, coaches, and events of the National Footb ...

's ''Top Ten Meltdowns'' and ''Top Ten Controversial Calls'' at #7.

References

External links

Profile
Living people 1977 births Players of American football from Montgomery, Alabama American football punters Troy Trojans football players New York Giants players {{Amfoot-punter-stub