Very little went right for Josh Allen in a disappointing contest on Thursday evening against the Houston Texans.
Yet he came close to willing the Buffalo Bills to a win before an late pick in the final minute ended their hopes in a 23-19 defeat.
Allen endured consecutive sacks on the team's last drive, resulting in a long fourth down, but Buffalo (7-4) picked up 44 yards on a short pass from Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a lateral to another teammate.
After a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, Calen Bullock intercepted the quarterback's throw at the 9-yard line with under half a minute left.
We possessed a opportunity to win it there at the end,” Josh Allen stated. “We did a solid job of staying in it and our defensive unit bailed us out a few instances. We’ve got find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
Proved difficult for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a night he was brought down a career-high eight times and hit four other times. Allen passed for 253 yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after accounting for six touchdowns in a win over the Buccaneers the previous week.
Whenever they hit our quarterback a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach McDermott commented. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It’s just not a safe way to play and it’s not a smart way to preserve our quarterback in good shape for the remaining games. We need to play better.”
Allen was sluggish to rise after a sack in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was fine and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was asked about being contacted so many times during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I encountered a couple myself. I’ve got to be more effective at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I found myself losing ground.”
The Bills' QB surrendered 70 yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had two and a half sacks to lead the Texans. Another sack came when he nearly took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and Anderson got up and chased him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt early in the third.
Buffalo played for a second consecutive matchup without receiver Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was late to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was previously benched for the first series of a loss to the Patriots in Week 5 after additionally being late for a team session.
No change. We are taking it day by day,” the coach said. “I felt he had a better week, but we’re taking it one day at a time. It was not that it was ignored, but we opted for the guys that provide the best chance.”
Khalil Shakir led the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a score.
The quarterback was frustrated that the team were unable to make plays down the stretch.
In the end, we’ve got execute, and we didn’t succeed of that tonight,” he said. “Whatever situation and whatever condition, we’ve got to find a way, and we came up short.”
