Very little went well for Josh Allen in a tough game Thursday night versus the Houston Texans.
Yet he came close to willing the Buffalo Bills to a win before an late pick in the last moments sealed their fate in a close defeat.
Allen endured consecutive tackles for loss on the Bills’ final possession, resulting in a long fourth down, but the Bills (with seven wins) gained 44 yards on a short pass from Allen to a receiver, who flipped a lateral to another teammate.
After a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth down situation for Buffalo, a Texans defender picked off the quarterback's pass at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds remaining.
We possessed a opportunity to win it there at the end,” Allen said. “We did a solid job of hanging tough and our defensive unit bailed us out a few instances. We’ve got find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was difficult for Allen to establish rhythm on a night he was brought down a personal-worst eight times and pressured four additional instances. Allen threw for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after producing six touchdowns in a victory over the Buccaneers last week.
“When they hit our quarterback a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach Sean McDermott commented. “I don’t like that stat at all. It’s just not a safe way to play and it’s not a smart way to preserve our field general healthy for the remaining games. We’ve got to play better.”
Josh Allen was sluggish to rise after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was OK and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being hit so many times during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I encountered a couple 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 sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half tackles for loss to lead the Texans. His second one came when he almost sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and Anderson got up and chased him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt in the third quarter.
The Bills played for a second consecutive matchup without wideout Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was earlier held out for the first series of a defeat to New England in the fifth week after also being delayed for a meeting.
No change. We’re just taking it day by day,” McDermott said. “I thought he had a improved week, but we are handling it step by step. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the guys that provide the best chance.”
Shakir led the Bills with eight catches for 110 yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
Allen was frustrated that the team were unable to make plays down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we’ve got perform, and we didn’t succeed of that tonight,” he said. “Whatever scenario and any circumstance, we’ve got to find a way, and we came up short.”
