Very little went right for the Bills' quarterback in a frustrating contest Thursday night against the Houston Texans.
Yet he came close to willing the Bills to a win before an interception in the final minute ended their hopes in a close defeat.
Allen endured consecutive tackles for loss on the Bills’ last drive, resulting in a long fourth down, but Buffalo (with seven wins) gained 44 yards on a quick throw from Josh Allen to a receiver, who flipped a backward pass to another teammate.
After a false-start penalty led to a fourth down situation for Buffalo, Calen Bullock picked off Allen’s throw at the Houston 9 with under half a minute remaining.
“We had a chance to come out on top there at the end,” Allen said. “We did a good job of staying in it and our defensive unit bailed us out a couple of times. We’ve got find a way, and we didn’t.”
Proved difficult for Allen to get anything going on a night he was sacked a career-high on eight occasions and pressured four other times. The QB passed for 253 yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after producing six TDs in a win over Tampa Bay the previous week.
“When they hit our quarterback a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach McDermott commented. “I don’t like that stat at all. It is not a safe way to play and it isn't a good way to keep our quarterback in good shape for the rest of the season. We’ve got to play better.”
Josh Allen was slow to rise after a tackle in the first half. He indicated he was fine and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being hit so many times on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I encountered a few personally. I need to be more effective at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I was going backwards.”
The Bills' QB surrendered 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 sacks to lead the Houston defense. His second one occurred when he nearly sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and the defender got up and pursued him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt early in the third.
Buffalo played for a second straight game without receiver Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was tardy to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was previously benched for the opening drive of a loss to New England in the fifth week after additionally being delayed for a meeting.
“Nothing new. We are approaching it one day at a time,” the coach noted. “I felt he had a better week, but we are taking it one day at a time. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the players that provide the best chance.”
Khalil Shakir led the Bills with eight catches for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
Allen was frustrated that the team couldn’t execute down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we must perform, and we didn’t succeed of that tonight,” he said. “No matter the situation and whatever circumstance, we need to discover a solution, and we came up short.”
