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"I'm still helping my team win": at 36, Eric Allen is one of the game's oldest players—but the Raiders cornerback has learned to use his age to his advantage

Football Digest, Jan, 2002 by Dennis Georgatos

ERIC ALLEN BEGAN HIS NFL career as an eager student of the game. Fourteen years later, he's applying all the lessons he's learned on a weekly basis, defying age and time to remain among the game's top cornerbacks.

At 36, Allen is one of the league's oldest players. Yet he has maintained his ball-hawking style while playing on the Oakland Raiders opposite 1997 Heisman Trophy winner Charles Woodson, a fierce and instinctive pass defender who went to the Pro Bowl in each of his first three seasons in the NFL.

The tandem has been one of the toughest to throw against in a league where the pass is the thing. Woodson gives the credit for that to Allen, both for his ability to hold up on the field and for his desire to counsel younger counterparts in his defensive craft.

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"He has taught me a lot about the game and life in the NFL," Woodson says of the six-time Pro Bowler. "He has showed different things on defending receivers and how to defend against some of them. He has a lot of experience and has played in several Pro Bowls and has a good a knowledge of the game."

Allen's long history as a playmaker hasn't been lost on his younger teammates. "There's not too much you're going to throw at him that he hasn't seen, if there is anything," Raiders safety Anthony Dorsett says. "He goes out there week in and week out and does his thing, whether it's interceptions, whether it's pass breakups, whatever.

"He just brings a wealth of knowledge to the game. He will see things and point them out. It's good to study film with him and sit down and talk to him. You always need an older guy around. It's just like you listen to your grandparents because they know what they're talking about because they've seen and done a lot of things."

Actually, Allen has seen just about everything the game has to offer. He broke into the league in 1988 with the Philadelphia Eagles as a second-round draft choice from Arizona State. Then-Eagles coach Buddy Ryan immediately penciled him in as the starting right cornerback, and Allen became an integral part of one of the league's premier defensive units, playing alongside such greats as Reggie White and Jerome Brown while receiving instruction from then-secondary coach Jeff Fisher, now head coach of the Tennessee Titans.

With those types of defensive minds around him, it's little wonder Allen caught on so quickly. "It was a fantastic learning experience," Allen says of a rookie season that included five interceptions and a trip to the playoffs. "You can never really repeat that first year, and when you have success, you get the feeling: `I can do this.'"

It helped that White bolstered the rookie's confidence by going out of his way to tell Allen that he thought he was going to be a good player. Allen also benefited from the give-and-take battles he faced each day in practice against Mike Quick, one of the top receivers of that era. "I saw myself getting better every day," Allen says. "Sometimes the games were a lot easier than practice."

Eagles safeties Andre Waters and Wes Hopkins also took an interest in Allen. The tutoring Allen received from those players accelerated his development as a pass defender and stays with him to this day, as a part of his game and as part of a repository of knowledge that he now shares with his younger teammates. It's as if Allen has come full circle.

"Those two guys really took me under their wing," Allen says. "I was able to see how professional football can take care of a guy if you take care of it. If you don't cheat your opportunity, most of the time the ball is going to bounce your way. It's not all luck. So much of it is preparation, so I learned to come to work early and stay late."

Allen has parlayed that work ethic into to an uncommonly long and productive career. Despite playing for three different teams, he has remained consistent. After spending seven years with the Eagles, he moved to New Orleans in 1995, becoming just the fourth Saints defensive back to earn a trip to the Pro Bowl. Now he is in his fourth season with the Raiders after joining them in a 1998 trade.

"I think one of my trademarks is being able to apply different styles at different times," Allen says. "I don't think I've been pigeon-holed as playing off the receivers or pressing them or doing something in-between.

"You have to be versatile in this game. That's mandatory. I think that's why I've been able to go from Philadelphia to New Orleans to the Raiders---changing teams, coaches, and systems--and generally give you the same strong level of competition. I still feel like I have the capability to turn a game around and shut a guy down. That's something I take pride in."

The numbers certainly back up that assertion. When Allen snared a Kent Graham pass last December against the Pittsburgh Steelers, he became just the 24th player in NFL history to reach 50 career interceptions. He finished last season tied for the Raiders team lead with six interceptions, including three he returned for touchdowns.

"I'm still helping my team win": at 36, Eric Allen is one of the game's oldest players—but the Raiders cornerback has learned to use his age to his advantage

Football Digest, Jan, 2002 by Dennis Georgatos

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