Little went right for Josh Allen in a disappointing game on Thursday evening versus the Texans.
And still he came close to willing the Bills to a victory before an late pick 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 the Bills (with seven wins) picked up 44 yards on a quick throw from Allen to a receiver, who tossed a lateral to another teammate.
Following a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, Calen Bullock intercepted the quarterback's pass at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds left.
“We had a opportunity to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen stated. “We did a good job of staying in it and our defense saved us a few instances. We’ve got find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
Proved tough for Allen to get anything going on a night he was brought down a career-high eight times and pressured four additional instances. Allen threw for 253 yards with two interceptions and zero scores after producing six touchdowns in a win over the Buccaneers last week.
“When they hit our quarterback a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach Sean McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It’s just not a safe way to compete and it’s not a smart way to preserve our quarterback in good shape for the rest of the season. We’ve got to improve our performance.”
Allen was slow to rise after a tackle in the first half. He indicated he was fine and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was asked about being hit so frequently during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I encountered a few myself. I need to be better at disposing of the football. Too many times, I found myself losing ground.”
Allen surrendered 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Anderson 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 wriggled away and Anderson rose and pursued him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt in the third quarter.
Buffalo competed for a second straight game absent receiver Keon Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was tardy to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was earlier held out for the opening drive of a loss to New England in the fifth week after also being delayed for a meeting.
No change. We are taking it one day at a time,” McDermott said. “I thought he had a better week, but we’re taking it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the guys that give us the best chance.”
Khalil Shakir led the Bills with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
The quarterback was frustrated that the Bills were unable to execute down the stretch.
In the end, we’ve got perform, and we failed to succeed of that this evening,” he concluded. “Whatever scenario and whatever condition, we need to find a way, and we didn’t.”
