Very little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a frustrating game Thursday night versus the Texans.
And still he nearly managed to willing the Bills to a victory before an late pick in the last moments sealed their fate in a close defeat.
Allen took back-to-back tackles for loss on the team's final possession, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (with seven wins) gained 44 yards on a short pass from Allen to a receiver, who flipped a lateral to another teammate.
After a false-start penalty created a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, a Texans defender picked off the quarterback's pass at the 9-yard line with under half a minute left.
We possessed a chance to win it there at the end,” Josh Allen stated. “Our team performed a good job of hanging tough and our defense saved us a few instances. We’ve got find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was difficult for Allen to get anything going on a night he was sacked a career-high on eight occasions and pressured four additional instances. The QB threw for 253 yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after producing six TDs in a win over the Buccaneers the previous week.
“When they hit our quarterback a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott commented. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It is not a healthy way to compete and it isn't a smart way to keep our quarterback healthy for the rest of the season. We’ve got to play better.”
Allen was sluggish to rise after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He said he was fine and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being contacted so frequently during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I encountered a few myself. I’ve got to be more effective at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I found myself going backwards.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 tackles for loss to lead the Texans. Another sack came when he almost took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and Anderson rose and pursued him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt in the third quarter.
Buffalo played for a second consecutive matchup without receiver Keon Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was late to a team meeting before their last game. He was previously benched for the first series of a loss to the Patriots in the fifth week after also being delayed for a team session.
No change. We are taking it one day at a time,” the coach said. “I felt he had a better week, but we are handling it step by step. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the players that give us the best chance.”
Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 yards and a score.
The quarterback was disappointed that the Bills couldn’t make plays down the stretch.
In the end, we’ve got execute, and we failed to do a good job of that tonight,” he said. “No matter the scenario and any circumstance, we’ve got to find a way, and we came up short.”
