Opponents that Allen perplexed contributed thoughts on what made Allen such a great player.
“The all-time single-season sacks leader, as far as I am concerned. He actually sacked me in a game the year he had 22 sacks, and they called it a run. It was most definitely a sack. He was one of the most dominant guys of our generation. I have always felt like to make the Hall of Fame, you have to be a dominant player, top three or five, at the most, at your position for an extended period of time. Without a doubt, Jared Allen was a dominant player at his position for a long time. Now, I am biased because we played him twice a year for a number of years, but he was a game-wrecker. We had to game-plan to try to take him out of the game as much as we could. Slow him down, chip him, thump him, send a back to him because he was an absolute game-wrecker. The first time I realized this was one of the loudest moments of my life at the Metrodome in 2009. He was all over the place, and I think he sacked me four times (4.5). Just a dominant, dominant player, and he also had a great flare about him with his hog-tie celebration that you hated to see when he got you. Just a super-cerebral player, smart player, fun to play against, great competitor, did things the right way, and no doubt in my mind he is a first-ballot Hall of Famer.”