Very little went well for Josh Allen in a disappointing game on Thursday evening against the Houston Texans.
Yet he came close to willing the Bills to a win before an late pick in the final minute sealed their fate in a close loss.
Allen took back-to-back tackles for loss on the team's final possession, leading to a long fourth down, but Buffalo (7-4) gained 44 yards on a quick throw from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.
After a pre-snap infraction created a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, a Texans defender picked off the quarterback's throw at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds left.
“We had a chance to come out on top there at the end,” Josh Allen stated. “Our team performed a solid job of hanging tough and our defense saved us a couple of times. We must find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was difficult for the signal-caller to get anything going on a evening he was brought down a personal-worst eight times and pressured four other times. 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 quarterback 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It’s just not a safe way to play and it isn't a smart way to keep our field general healthy for the rest of the season. We need to play better.”
Allen was slow to rise after a sack in the first half. He indicated he was fine and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being hit so many times on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I ran into a few personally. I need to be more effective at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I found myself going backwards.”
Allen surrendered 70 yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half tackles for loss to lead the Houston defense. His second one came when he nearly sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and the defender rose and chased him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt early in the third.
Buffalo played for a second straight game absent wideout Keon 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 opening drive of a defeat to New England in Week 5 after additionally being late for a team session.
No change. We are approaching it one day at a time,” the coach noted. “I felt he had a better week, but we’re taking it one day at a time. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the guys that give us the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir topped the Bills with eight receptions for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
The quarterback was frustrated that the team couldn’t execute down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we must perform, and we failed to do a good job of that tonight,” he said. “Whatever situation and whatever condition, we’ve got to find a way, and we came up short.”
