Little went right for Josh Allen in a tough game on Thursday evening versus the Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to driving the Buffalo Bills to a win before an late pick in the last moments sealed their fate in a 23-19 loss.
The quarterback endured consecutive sacks on the team's final possession, leading to a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (7-4) picked up significant yardage on a short pass from Josh Allen to a receiver, who flipped a lateral to another teammate.
After a false-start penalty created a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, Calen Bullock intercepted Allen’s pass at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds remaining.
“We had a opportunity to win it there at the conclusion,” Allen stated. “Our team performed a solid job of staying in it and our defensive unit saved us a couple of times. We must figure it out, and we didn’t.”
It was tough for Allen to get anything going on a evening he was brought down a personal-worst on eight occasions and hit four other times. Allen threw for 253 yards with two interceptions and zero scores after producing six TDs in a victory over the Buccaneers last week.
“When they pressure our QB a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott said. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It’s just not a safe way to play and it’s not a good way to preserve our quarterback in good shape for the remaining games. We need to improve our performance.”
Allen was sluggish to rise after a tackle in the first half. He said he was OK and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being contacted so frequently during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I encountered a couple personally. I’ve got to be better at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I found myself going backwards.”
Allen surrendered 70 yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half tackles for loss to top the Houston defense. Another sack occurred when he nearly sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and Anderson rose and chased him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt in the third quarter.
Buffalo competed for a second straight game absent wideout Keon Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was late to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was earlier held out for the first series of a defeat to the Patriots in Week 5 after additionally being delayed for a team session.
“Nothing new. We are approaching it one day at a time,” McDermott noted. “I felt he had a better week, but we’re handling it one day at a time. It was not that it was ignored, but we opted for the guys that give us the best chance.”
Khalil Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a score.
The quarterback was frustrated that the team couldn’t make plays down the stretch.
In the end, we must perform, and we failed to succeed of that this evening,” he concluded. “Whatever situation and whatever circumstance, we need to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
