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

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

punter in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...

. Allen played college football at

Troy State Troy University is a public university in Troy, Alabama. It was founded in 1887 as Troy State Normal School within the Alabama State University System, and is now the flagship university of the Troy University System. Troy University is accredi ...

and signed as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player 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 contract at present but who is a ...

with the Atlanta Falcons in 2002. 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 club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisio ...

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 Atlanta Falcons 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 a former American football guard who played his entire career with the New York Giants of the National Football League. High school career Born in Stratford, Wisconsin, Seubert attended Columbu ...

after a botched snap from

Trey Junkin Abner Kirk "Trey" Junkin III (born January 23, 1961) is a former American football long snapper in the National Football League. Junkin played college football at Louisiana Tech University. Although considered one of the forefathers of the mode ...

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 The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the maj ...

'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 New York Giants players {{Amfoot-punter-stub