Vikings' poor record may have hurt Allen

Minnesota Vikings Pro Bowl defensive end Jared Allen came up just short of another big honor for his work this season. Allen put together one of the best pass-rushing seasons in NFL history with 22 sacks but ended up a half-sack shy of the single-season NFL record held by Michael Strahan. On Saturday, Allen finished second in the Associated Press Defensive Player of the Year voting to Baltimore's Terrell Suggs. Suggs finished with 21 votes to Allen's 14. Allen, who broke Minnesota's single-season sack record formerly held by newly elected Hall of Famer Chris Doleman, led the NFL in sacks and added 66 tackles, four forced fumbles, a league-leading four fumble recoveries. He also had a safety and one interception. Suggs had an AFC-best 14 sacks to go with 70 tackles, a league-high seven forced fumbles and two interceptions. But Suggs became a leader on the Ravens' third-ranked defense and Baltimore advanced to the playoffs. While Allen's season stands out as an individual accomplishment - like the award itself - he was likely hurt by playing for the 3-13 Vikings, who finished with the 21st-ranked defense and allowed the second-most points in the NFL. Allen won the NFC's Defensive Player of the Year award in the annual NFL 101 awards in January. He was also named the Defensive Player of the Year by Sporting News, which polls hundreds of players for its award. From the end of the 2010 season to the beginning of last season, Allen recorded a sack in 11 straight games, setting a new Minnesota record previously held by Carl Eller and Jim Marshall, who had gone eight straight games with a sack. In just his fourth season with the Vikings, Allen ranks seventh in team history with 57.5 sacks. Carl Eller has the most sacks in a Minnesota uniform with 130. Allen, a fourth-round draft choice of the Kansas City Chiefs in 2004, has 105 career sacks, the highest total in the NFL since 2004. He trails only all-time NFL sack leader Reggie White for the most sacks in the first eight seasons of a career. White had 124 his first eight years in the league. Also receiving votes for the Defensive Player of the Year were Justin Smith of the San Francisco 49ers, New York Giants defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul, San Francisco linebackers Patrick Willis and NaVorro Bowman and Green Bay Packers cornerback Charles Woodson.