Beau Allen turned around from a double team just in time to see the football take a perfect bounce on the fleshy part and wind up in his bear paws.
Then the big man started rumbling down the field.
“It was really cool,” said Allen of his first-career fumble recovery during the Eagles' 21-10 win over the previously undefeated Vikings on Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field (see Instant Replay). “It just kind of popped right into my hands. I was coming off a little double team. I think I spun around, saw the ball right there, scooped it up. And got a nice chunk of yardage.”
Allen picked up 10 yards on the return while his braided hair with a pink bow bounced in the wind.
While many players wear pink on their cleats or gloves for breast cancer awareness month, Allen sports the pink bow in his hair. His mother, Susie, a breast cancer survivor, was in attendance Sunday afternoon for her son’s third career start.
So was his father and a bunch of cousins and other family members. Allen, who is from Minnetonka, Minnesota, got 15 tickets for his family that flew in from Minnesota for the game. And thanks to Bennie Logan’s injury, Allen got the start.
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“It was cool like that,” Allen said of his fumble recovery. “I am from Minnesota. It’s kind of funny how sometimes the ball pops right out in front of you like that. It’s nice. It’s funny how that works out, though.”
Allen’s fumble recovery – on Rodney McLeod’s strip sack – gave the Eagles the ball back with good field position and about three minutes to score. They ended up kicking a field goal to take an 11-3 lead into halftime.
For the game, Allen had three combined tackles, a quarterback hit and the fumble recovery.
“I saw Beau crush [Sam Bradford] on one play,” defensive end Connor Barwin said. “Beau was going against probably their best offensive lineman. So it was good to see Beau play so well against [LG] Alex Boone; stepping up for Bennie [Logan].”
Allen said when he picked up the loose football, he thought about trying to pitch the ball or make a move on the offensive lineman who was about to tackle him. Ultimately, though, he made the wise decision to tuck the ball with two hands and not fumble, knowing receivers like to come from behind and try to strip the ball on those plays.
“Actually, I’m a fullback too,” Allen, who has played a few snaps on offense in goal line situations this season, added quickly. “So I’ve got a lot of training.”
