Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Allen shrugs off criticism
PHILADELPHIA » To defeat the Eagles with a late touchdown Sunday, the Arizona Cardinals went over the top. Even as they did, Nate Allen had an idea that the criticism would follow.
Allen is it the Eagles’ safety and, as such, he was technically assigned to prevent any game-changing lengthy touchdown passes. The 75-yard one that Carson Palmer threw to John Brown to give the Cards a 24-20 victory fit that category.
Ever since — and until, as it typically goes, the Eagles win another game — he will be a different kind of target, mostly on the talk-show circuit, but in the newspapers, too. That’s because he had become the face of the defeat, rightly or otherwise.
“I don’t worry about that, man,” Allen said Thursday at the NovaCare Complex. “There is always going to be criticism. As long as I’ve been here, it’s been like that. That’s the way it is. And I don’t let it affect me or my mental state. You’ve got to move on.”
Allen is attempting to move on, but with the same impediment that contributed to the situation in the first place. He has a sore hamstring, which caused him to miss practice Thursday and leave him iffy for a start Sunday in Houston.
The physical issue, he revealed, began in the third quarter at Arizona, and nagged him for the rest of the game. “But that last one, where I really had to open up,” he said. “That’s where it got me.”
Allen did indicate that he was improving, and has yet to declare himself unavailable for the Texans game.
“I’m just taking it day to day,” he said. “That’s what the hamstring is. It is a day-to-day thing. I am talking to the doctors and the coaches, and it is all based on how I feel.
“I feel good. Better than I did yesterday. I did more than I did yesterday, so that’s a positive. So we will keep taking it day to day. I know how it is. It is not something that you want to prolong by trying to push it, and then you get out there and turn it into something it doesn’t have to be.”
Should Allen not play Sunday, Earl Wolff almost surely would start, though Chip Kelly was secretive Thursday, hinting that Chris Maragos and Jaylen Watkins were also under consideration.
A second-year pro, Wolff has appeared in six of the Birds’ seven games, primarily on special teams, missing a victory over Washington with a knee injury. He started six times as a rookie, making one interception.
“I don’t know how it is going to go,” Wolff said. “But if I get my shot, I know the coaches want me to play my best. That’s my goal, to play my best. I felt like I made strides each and every game in the preseason, and I just want to pick it up from where I left it there.”
Whichever safety Kelly might pick, Allen knows he will have to cover receivers … then, perhaps, cover his ears. That, however, literally comes with the territory.
“No,” he said, when asked if the criticism is too much. “That’s the way it is. And football is big around here. The fans are passionate. And we as players are critical of ourselves. But as football players, we can’t get caught up in all of that because it can wear you down. You just have to try to stay focused on what you do and let it all go.”
That’s what Allen is planning. He doesn’t expect it to be difficult.
“Just like any other time that you get beat on a play, you just have to move on,” the fifth-year pro said. “You can’t beat yourself up too much, because then it starts affecting the next thing and the next thing. And it is just downhill from there.
“You just have to learn from it and keep moving.”