Little went well for the Bills' quarterback in a disappointing contest Thursday night versus the Houston Texans.
And still he nearly managed to willing the Buffalo Bills to a win before an late pick in the last moments sealed their fate in a close loss.
Allen endured consecutive tackles for loss on the team's last drive, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (7-4) picked up 44 yards on a quick throw from Josh Allen to a receiver, who tossed a backward pass to another teammate.
After a false-start penalty led to a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, a Texans defender intercepted Allen’s throw at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds remaining.
We possessed a opportunity to win it there at the end,” Allen stated. “We did a good job of hanging tough and our defense saved us a few instances. We must find a way, and we didn’t.”
Proved tough for the signal-caller to get anything going on a night he was sacked a career-high eight times and pressured four additional instances. The QB threw for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after producing six TDs in a win over the Buccaneers last week.
“When they hit 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 healthy way to play and it isn't a smart way to preserve our quarterback healthy for the rest of the season. We need to play better.”
Josh Allen was sluggish to rise after a sack in the first half. He indicated he was fine and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being contacted so frequently during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I ran into a couple personally. I need to be better at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I was losing ground.”
The Bills' QB surrendered 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 tackles for loss to lead the Houston defense. His second one came when he nearly took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and the defender rose and pursued him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt in the third quarter.
The Bills played for a second straight game without wideout Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was tardy to a team meeting before their last game. He was previously benched for the first series of a loss to New England in the fifth week after also being late for a team session.
No change. We’re just approaching it one day at a time,” McDermott said. “I thought he had a improved week, but we are taking it step by step. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the players that give us the best chance.”
Khalil Shakir topped 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 execute, and we failed to succeed of that tonight,” he concluded. “No matter the scenario and any condition, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”
