Dwayne Allen: Now that's what a $29 million tight end looks like
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – Not long after he’d found out he'd become the first player in 21 years – the first player since Jerry Freakin’ Rice in 1995 – to catch three touchdowns in the first half of a game on Monday Night Football, Dwayne Allen received some advice from a teammate.
“Man, you should retire,” Jack Doyle told him.
Allen laughed it off. No way, man. Not after a night like that.
Expectations have been Allen’s greatest enemy in Indianapolis; that’s what happens when you put together a sterling rookie season then fail to back it up your second year, your third year, your fourth year ... then sign a fat $29 million contract extension and catch all of two touchdowns in the first 11 games of the season.
“There’s a little bit of pressure,” Allen admitted earlier in the week.
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Injuries have repeatedly stalled the once-assumed ascent everyone figured Allen for. The hip. The ankle. The ankle again. So, too, has been a lack of production. He led all rookie tight ends in 2012 with 45 catches for 521 yards. He could catch. Could block. Could pair with Andrew Luck and T.Y. Hilton to form the backbone of a Colts’ offense that would wreck defenses for a decade.
Most pegged Allen for the Pro Bowl.
The reality: He’s nowhere near it.
And give him credit: Despite the knocks – some of which are deserved (i.e. the dropped passes) and some aren’t (the injuries) – Allen remained, if nothing else, accountable. He never shied from the criticism, never hid from the expectations or the disappointment. He knows $29 million tight ends have to do better than 24 catches and two touchdowns 11 games into the season.
“It would mean everything (to finish strong),” he said.
Monday night was a hell of a start.
Allen played the game of his career, catching more touchdown passes in the first half (three) than he had the entire season (two). Put his name next to Jerry Rice. Silenced the Dwayne Allen haters, the ones contending he’s overpaid, drops the football too often and can’t stay healthy.
What was that coming from them Monday night?
Silence.
For the first time in 2016 it could be said: Now that’s what a $29 million tight end looks like.
“I don’t listen to whenever media or anyone else say good things about me, or the reverse, when they say bad things about me,” Allen said after he authored the best game of his career. “I’ve had to battle through some injuries. That’s the National Football League. No two people experience the same NFL.”
The Colts pummeled the Jets Monday night. Embarrassed them. Won 41-10. Buried them so soundly that the only cheers that came from the scant crowd at MetLife Stadium was when rookie quarterback Bryce Petty replaced the lame duck starter, Ryan Fitzpatrick, and when a New York state trooper speared a drunken streaker who’d snuck on the field.
By then, the game was long decided. Allen was a reason why. In his 52-game career before Monday night, he’d never had one with more than one touchdown. And his last 24 games, he had a whopping total of three touchdowns.
He had three in the first 24 minutes Monday.
“Couldn’t be happier for him,” Doyle said in the raucous postgame locker room. “He had a freaking hat trick in the first half!”
He did. And who saw this coming?
“Of course (I did), didn’t everyone?” Allen joked. “No. Not at all.”
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He can thank the hapless Jets defense for the first two. Has he ever been that open in his life?
“Never, never,” he said. “I’m envious of guys as I’m watching film, like, I never get open like that! No one’s guarding you. Come on.”
Give Allen credit for the third touchdown though, a gritty grab in coverage than gave the Colts a 17-point lead. With it he joined Jim Mutscheller, Ken Dilger and Dallas Clark for the most by a Colts’ tight end in a game in franchise history.
So good was Allen's night that when his fourth catch didn't end in a touchdown it felt like a mild letdown.
Amidst a season in which Allen’s backup, Doyle, has earned considerable praise – rightly so, Doyle has been instrumental for Indianapolis all year – Monday night was Allen’s “Remember me?” game. It wasn’t just about validating his effectiveness in the red zone, a staple of Allen’s game ever since he arrived in Indianapolis in 2012.
This was more than that. This was him reminding everyone why the Colts paid him what they did last March.
“The game’s funny sometimes,” Luck explained. “The ball bounces in weird ways, literally and figuratively. He’s worked his butt off every day. He doesn’t show frustration.”
On a night T.Y. Hilton passed Marvin Harrison for the most 100-yard receiving games in the first five years of his career (22), further stamping his spot in this year’s Pro Bowl, and Luck orchestrated one of the most lethal nights of his career (a sublime 147.6 passer rating), Allen, for a night, proved his worth right next to his 2012 draft class counterparts.
It hasn’t happened enough in Allen’s five years in Indianapolis, and he knows it. Most figured he was gone after last season, after he was targeted just 29 times and caught only 13 passes in a contract year. He was a free agent figuring he’d ply his trade elsewhere.
“I had no idea what was gonna go down,” Allen would later admit. “It was a very stressful time.”
To his surprise, to everyone’s surprise, the Colts wouldn’t let him go anywhere. He was the complete tight end their offense craved, the Pro Bowl tight end they’d always envisioned. Monday night made the Colts’ decision look very, very good.
And for better or worse, Allen’s not going anywhere. He’s among this team’s offensive pillars, right next to left tackle Anthony Castonzo, next to Hilton, next to Luck. They’ve all been rewarded with massive contract extensions. You’ve seen all of them begin to earn it.
Allen certainly did Monday night at MetLife Stadium.
It was a start.
A statement, too.
Call Star reporter Zak Keefer at (317) 444-6134 and follow him on Twitter: @zkeefer.
Colts vs. Texans, 1 p.m. Sunday, CBS