Matt Allen


Matt Allen is a former American football punter in the NFL who played for the New York Giants. He played college football at Troy State.

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 2002 NFL season, Allen made 63 punts for 2,326 yards with 2,045 net yards and an average 36.9 yards per punt. He is famously known for attempting to pass to Rich Seubert, after a botched snap from Trey Junkin 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 ineligible man downfield penalty and resulted in an extra, untimed down. As it was not 4th down and the team had a timeout left, Allen could have spiked the ball and stopped the clock regardless of potentially being penalised for intentional rounding, or he could have taken a knee then used the time out.
This play ended up being #10 on NFL Top 10's Top Ten Meltdowns and Top Ten Controversial Calls at #7.