Flashback Friday: How Tuck Rule Kept Raiders from Outsmarting Pats, TB12

(EDITOR'S NOTE: To listen to the Eric Allen interview, click on the following link: Megaphone)

Not many people remember where they were 22 years ago Friday, but Hall-of-Fame candidate Eric Allen -- then a cornerback with the Oakland Raiders -- is not many people. He was in the ears of the New England Patriots that day, listening to a call that would lead to one of the most controversial decisions by officials in NFL history.

I’m talking about … the Tuck Rule.

Rewind the videotape to Jan. 19, 2002, and it's there you'll find the Patriots overcome Oakland, 16-13, in the AFC playoffs -- a victory clinched only when Adam Vinatieri nailed a game-winning 23-yard field goal in overtime. But that wasn’t the story. The Tuck Rule was … and still is … convincing the Raiders and Raider Nation that the NFL conspired to make them lose.

Down, 13-10 with under two minutes remaining, quarterback Tom Brady drove New England to the Raiders’ 42 where he dropped back, pulled the ball down as he pumped to throw and was hit by blitzing cornerback Charles Woodson, forcing a Brady fumble that the Raiders recovered.

Or so it seemed.

But after consulting instant replay, officials ruled Brady’s arm was moving forward and that what appeared to be a fumble actually was an incompletion. With a reprieve, Brady moved Patriots to the Oakland 29 where Vinatieri somehow, some way, nailed a 45-yard field goal through the wind, snow and bitter cold to send the game into overtime.

But you knew that.

What you might not know is that Allen, who was on the field that evening, was way ahead of Brady on the controverial play. In fact, he was practically in the Patriots’ huddle. Essentially, when Brady got the call from the sideline, so did Allen ... and so did the Raiders. That may need some explaining, and Allen was only too happy to help when he joined us on a recent “Eye Test for Two” podcast.

"During the week," he said, "we thought that No. 12 for the Patriots (Brady) had some good things about him. He had accuracy, he processed information well, but he doesn’t have a great arm … or anything like that. So we get to this play, and it’s three by one – three receivers by one receiver.

“But before that, there was a timeout, and I was over on their sideline because at that time I always knew somebody on the other team. I knew a coach or something. This was Year 14 for me, and so I was over on their sideline, and I’m kinda talking to Otis Smith, who used to play for the Eagles. But we’re shielded by a referee, and (offensive coordinator) Charlie Weis is on the headset on the football field.”

OK, stop. Nothing new there. That happens all the time. What occurred next does not.

“He’s talking to Tom Brady,” Allen said of Weis, “and he says, ‘We’re going to go three-by-one and throw the slant to the backside.’ He tells me the play. I jog back to the huddle, and I say, ‘Hey, it’s going to be a slant, backside, three-by-one. So, whatever corner gets that backside one, you’re going to get the ball. So make sure.’ And everybody’s like: what?

“I’m like: ‘three-by-one, backside slant.’ I had another teammate from Philadelphia I helped come to Oakland. His name was William Thomas. He was our WILL linebacker. And Williams was a great linebacker as far as ball skills. So, I was like: ‘Willie T., if we get the single receiver, we’re getting the ball. Dude, I’m taking this to the house.’

“So they line up, and I get the single receiver. And I say, ‘Willie T., you line up in the first window, and I’m going to line up in the second window.’ I’ve never seen a wide shot of this play, but I am probably four yards inside of the outside receiver. If Tom Brady checks and runs a fade, I’m toast. I’m just cooked.

“But I sit in there. Woodson is coming off the backside, (Brady) tries to throw the ball and he sees William Thomas in that first hole. So he brings it back to throw it, basically, to me. And, as he brings it back, Charles knocks the ball down, Greg Biekert recovers the fumble and I run to the sideline and tell (secondary coach) Willie Brown, ‘Willie, this is (great)’

“At that point, I’m thinking about: Of all the years, it wasn’t the play that I made; it was the processing. It was the ability to go back to your team, tell them what was expected and it would all figure out … or work out … our way.”

Or not.

After officials conferred, they ruled the play an incomplete pass. The Raiders howled, but I’ll be honest: I was in Chicago to cover that afternoon’s Eagles-Bears playoff game and watched the Raiders-Patriots' game that evening on a wide-screen TV in the hotel dining room. I was having dinner with Hall-of-Fame voter Rick Gosselin when we both saw what happened, and, like Allen, figured the game was over.

“Not so fast,” said someone from the table next to us. “That’s going to be called an incomplete pass.”

It was the entire officiating crew from the Eagles-Bears game, led by referee Bill Carollo. More than one explained the Tuck Rule to us, saying that if the quarterback’s arm is moving forward when the ball is dislodged – which it was – it’s an incomplete pass.

We were skeptical, but we should’ve known better. They were right, and, as Allen and the Raiders would soon learn, they'd been victimized by a little known rule that would end their season.

“After the call was overturned,” Allen said, “it was like a glaze over our team. Yes, we had opportunities to get back into scoring position and kick a field goal in overtime, but for me … I was like: 14 years to that game I played in the Fog Bowl (a 1988 playoff loss to the Bears). So my first playoff game was the Fog Bowl, and my last playoff game was the Tuck Rule. I’m sitting at my locker after the game, and I’m like: It may not be meant for me to go to the Super Bowl.”

And it wasn’t. The Patriots did, winning their first of six. And Allen? He retired and went home.