Very little went well for Josh Allen in a tough game on Thursday evening against the Texans.
And still he came close to driving the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an late pick in the final minute sealed their fate in a close loss.
Allen endured back-to-back sacks on the Bills’ final possession, resulting in a long fourth down, but Buffalo (7-4) picked up 44 yards on a short pass from Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped 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 pass at the Houston 9 with under half a minute left.
“We had a opportunity to win it there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen said. “Our team performed a solid job of hanging tough and our defense bailed us out a couple of times. We’ve got find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
Proved tough for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a night he was sacked a personal-worst on eight occasions and pressured four additional instances. The QB threw for 253 yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after accounting for six TDs in a victory over the Buccaneers the previous week.
Whenever they hit our quarterback 12 times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach McDermott said. “I don’t like that stat at all. It is not a safe way to play and it isn't a good way to keep our field general in good shape for the remaining games. We’ve got to play better.”
Josh Allen was slow to get up after a tackle in the first half. He indicated he was OK and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being contacted so many times during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I encountered a few myself. I need to be more effective at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I found myself going backwards.”
Allen surrendered 70 yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had 2.5 sacks to lead the Houston defense. Another sack occurred when he nearly took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and Anderson got up and pursued him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt early in the third.
Buffalo competed for a second straight game without receiver Keon Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their last game. He was previously benched for the opening drive of a defeat to New England in the fifth week after additionally being delayed for a team session.
“Nothing new. We are taking it day by day,” the coach noted. “I felt he had a improved week, but we are taking it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the players that give us the best chance.”
Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 yards and a score.
The quarterback was disappointed that the Bills were unable to make plays in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we’ve got execute, and we didn’t do a good job of that tonight,” he said. “No matter the situation and any circumstance, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
