Nate Allen got his 2011 season off to a rough start. No doubt a large part of the reason was that he was still getting over a knee injury suffered last in 2012, but it doesn't change the fact that he struggled. And the struggles were all around. His tackling was poor, his coverage was lacking...

But things got better. His tackling improved and lapses in coverage disappeared. I've been encouraged to see how he's been positively graded by Pro Football Focus over the last month. They say that the season finale was his best game of the year.

Second-round 2010 pick Nate Allen had his best game of the year (+3.3). He allowed none of the three passes thrown at him to be completed (including knocking down two passes) and made a heads-up play by intercepting a tipped pass downfield. He was stood up on one run by the fullback, but otherwise did solid work in the run game, notching four solo tackles, one of which was a stop.

He was also graded positively in the Miami game and they singled out his performance against the Cowboys for praise as well.

With Asante Samuel out and the Cowboys’ strong receiving targets, the Eagles needed to make sure their secondary wasn’t going to be a reason for concern. Some of their lesser known players stepped up like safety Nate Allen (+3.0 coverage) who used his physical nature to prevent two passes from being caught by hitting the receiver while in the act, which forced two dropped passes. While he was thrown at five times, he allowed just one catch for no yards.

It was a good end to the year for Allen and certainly a sign that at least one of the two safety positions looks to be filled for next season.