Kyle Allen took over from Dwayne Haskins as the Washington Football Team’s starting quarterback last week against the Los Angeles Rams. Allen was solid through nearly two quarters, completing 9-of-13 passes for 74 yards while adding a rushing touchdown on a nifty red zone scramble in the first quarter.
His scrambling caught up with him in the second quarter, when he took off and lunged forward for a first down. However, he opened himself to a devastating helmet-to-helmet hit from Rams cornerback Jalen Ramsey.
Washington offensive coordinator Scott Turner was not pleased seeing his starting quarterback making such a “reckless” decision to open himself up to a hit by a defensive player. He added Allen was “selfish” for the “bonehead” play talking to the media Wednesday.
“Obviously, not only is it kind of a bonehead play to put yourself in that situation, but it’s also selfish as far as now he got hurt and now he’s not available to help the rest of his teammates,” Turner said.
Allen suffered an arm injury on the hit and had to be evaluated for a concussion. He exited the game. While he was later cleared to return, Washington head coach Ron Rivera previously said Allen was kept out for the rest of the game as an “abundance of caution.”
Allen was replaced by Alex Smith, who stole the headlines by playing in his first game since his horrific leg injury nearly two years ago. Smith struggled, throwing for 37 yards on 17 pass attempts and was sacked six times.
Allen later explained he tried to “stick my nose in there” for the first down.
Washington’s offense gained negative-six yards for the entire second half without Allen, losing 30-10 for their fourth straight loss. Turner felt Allen put the team in a bad predicament by getting injured.
Turner added Allen will learn from the mistake. Luckily, 25-year old staved off serious injury and is expected to start this week against the New York Giants.
