Very little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a tough game on Thursday evening versus the Texans.
And still he nearly managed to willing the Bills to a victory before an interception in the final minute ended their hopes in a 23-19 defeat.
Allen took consecutive tackles for loss on the Bills’ last drive, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (with seven wins) gained significant yardage on a short pass from Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a lateral to Khalil Shakir.
Following a pre-snap infraction created a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, a Texans defender picked off Allen’s pass at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds left.
“We had a opportunity to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen said. “We did a solid job of staying in it and our defense saved us a couple of times. We must find a way, and we didn’t.”
Proved difficult for the signal-caller to get anything going on a evening he was sacked a career-high eight times and hit four additional instances. The QB passed for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after producing six TDs in a win over Tampa Bay the previous week.
Whenever they hit our QB a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott commented. “I don’t like that stat at all. It is not a safe way to play and it isn't a smart way to preserve our field general healthy for the remaining games. We’ve got to improve our performance.”
Josh Allen was sluggish to get up after a tackle in the first half. He indicated he was fine and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being contacted so many times during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I ran into a couple personally. I need to be more effective at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I was going backwards.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Anderson had 2.5 sacks to lead the Houston defense. His second one came when he nearly sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and the defender got up and pursued him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt early in the third.
The Bills competed for a second consecutive matchup without wideout Keon Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a team meeting before their last game. He was previously held out for the opening drive of a defeat to the Patriots in Week 5 after additionally being late for a meeting.
“Nothing new. We are approaching it day by day,” the coach noted. “I thought he had a improved week, but we’re handling it step by step. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the players that provide the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir led the Bills with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.
The quarterback was disappointed that the Bills couldn’t make plays down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we must perform, and we failed to succeed of that tonight,” he said. “No matter the scenario and whatever circumstance, we need to find a way, and we didn’t.”
