Marcus Allen wins the Pittsburgh Steelers “dumb penalty” award for his sideline meeting with the Carolina Panthers in Week 15. A play fans probably still remember well, the Steelers’ defense had just gotten off the field on third down. In the time between the third down stop and the punt team getting on the field, Allen had bounced over to the Panthers’ sideline, started jawing with Panthers’ players, and promptly drew a 15-yard penalty that gave Carolina a fresh set of downs. Seemingly an inexcusable, what-are-you-doing penalty.
But safety Miles Killebrew is trying to defend it. Appearing on 93.7 The Fan with Andrew Fillipponi and Chris Mueller, Killebrew attempted to add context to the situation.
“I was actually standing right next to Marcus Allen when that happened on the far side line,” Killebrew said. “It was a timeout. It was dead ball. Here’s the deal. I know the special teams coach for them. I’ve played against him in Chicago. He called him over there. He called him over there to the huddle. He said, ‘Hey, two-seven, come here real quick.’ When Marcus got over there, it was one of those things of, ‘Hey, what are you doing here?’ And the ref saw it. And so Marcus has a dark visor. It looks like he’s over there talking trash. He’s over there like, ‘Hey, what’s up? You called me over here.'”
An excuse that’s gonna go over like a lead balloon. As it should. Looking back at the play, Allen wasn’t just running over to talk to the special teams coach Chris Tabor. He got in the face of a Panthers’ player on his way there before talking with other players on the sideline, who clearly didn’t want their new guest. It sure didn’t look like Allen was *just* saying hello.
Even if that’s true and Allen was called over to the sideline by the Panthers, a wild suggestion is…don’t do it. Marcus Allen seems like the dude who sees Pennywise and follows him down the drain. A good rule of thumb is to never do anything the opposing coaches tell you to do. Another is to never go hang out with the opposing sideline.
Killebrew might be a good teammate for trying to defend Allen but there is no defense. Allen is responsible for his own actions. And to his credit, took responsibility after the game. But it was a costly penalty that thankfully didn’t impact the outcome. The Panthers got a field goal out of the drive instead of a punt but the Steelers still hung on to win.
Killebrew told The Fan he understands Allen still can’t take a penalty there.
“I told Danny, I told him what happened…it doesn’t change the fact that there was a penalty. It still got a penalty, so you can’t do that. It still has to be addressed.”
Allen’s season came to an end the following week after tearing his bicep late in the team’s Week 16 win over the Las Vegas Raiders. A pending free agent, it’s not clear if the Steelers want him back. He has value on special teams but if Pittsburgh re-signs him, it’ll be for the minimum. If not, his final games with the team will be remembered for one dumb penalty no matter what context Killebrew wants to spin around it.
