Little went well for the Bills' quarterback in a tough contest on Thursday evening against the Houston Texans.
And still he came close to driving the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an interception in the final minute ended their hopes in a close defeat.
Allen took back-to-back tackles for loss on the Bills’ final possession, resulting in a long fourth down, but Buffalo (7-4) picked up significant yardage on a short pass from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a lateral to another teammate.
Following a pre-snap infraction created a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, a Texans defender picked off Allen’s pass at the Houston 9 with under half a minute remaining.
We possessed a opportunity to come out on top there at the end,” Josh Allen stated. “We did a solid job of hanging tough and our defensive unit saved us a couple of times. We must figure it out, and we didn’t.”
Proved difficult for Allen to get anything going on a night he was brought down a personal-worst eight times and hit four other times. The QB passed for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after producing six touchdowns in a win over the Buccaneers the previous week.
Whenever they hit our QB 12 times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It is not a safe way to play and it isn't a good way to preserve our quarterback healthy for the rest of the season. We’ve got to play better.”
Allen was sluggish to rise after a sack in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was OK and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being contacted so many times on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I encountered a couple myself. I’ve got to be better at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I found myself losing ground.”
Allen surrendered 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had 2.5 tackles for loss to top the Houston defense. His second one occurred when he nearly took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and the defender rose and chased him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt in the third quarter.
The Bills competed for a second consecutive matchup without wideout Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was late to a team meeting before their last game. He was previously held out for the first series of a loss to the Patriots in the fifth week after additionally being late for a meeting.
“Nothing new. We’re just approaching it one day at a time,” the coach noted. “I felt he had a improved week, but we’re taking it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we went with the players that provide the best chance.”
Shakir led the Bills with eight receptions for 110 yards and Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.
Allen was frustrated that the Bills were unable to make plays in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we’ve got execute, and we didn’t succeed of that tonight,” he concluded. “Whatever situation and any condition, we’ve got to find a way, and we came up short.”
