Very little went right for the Bills' quarterback in a tough game Thursday night against the Houston Texans.
And still he came close to willing the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an interception in the last moments ended their hopes in a close defeat.
Allen took back-to-back sacks on the team's final possession, resulting in a long fourth down, but Buffalo (7-4) picked up 44 yards on a quick throw from Josh Allen to a receiver, who flipped a lateral to another teammate.
Following a false-start penalty led to a fourth down situation for Buffalo, a Texans defender picked off the quarterback's pass at the 9-yard line with under half a minute remaining.
“We had a opportunity to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Allen stated. “We did a good job of staying in it and our defense bailed us out a couple of times. We must find a way, and we didn’t.”
It was difficult for Allen to establish rhythm on a evening he was sacked a personal-worst on eight occasions and hit four other times. The QB passed for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and zero scores after producing six touchdowns in a win over the Buccaneers last week.
Whenever they pressure our QB 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott commented. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It’s just not a healthy way to compete and it isn't a smart way to keep our quarterback in good shape for the rest of the season. We need to play better.”
Josh Allen was slow to get up after a tackle in the first half. He said he was fine and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being contacted so frequently during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I ran into a few myself. I’ve got to be better at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I was losing ground.”
Allen surrendered 70 yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had 2.5 sacks to lead the Houston defense. His second one occurred when he almost sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and the defender rose and chased him downfield 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 again a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their last game. He was previously benched for the first series of a loss to New England in the fifth week after also being delayed for a team session.
“Nothing new. We are approaching it one day at a time,” the coach said. “I felt he had a improved week, but we’re taking it step by step. It was not that it was ignored, but we opted for the guys that provide the best chance.”
Shakir led the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.
The quarterback was frustrated that the Bills were unable to make plays in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we’ve got execute, and we didn’t succeed of that this evening,” he said. “No matter the situation and whatever condition, we need to find a way, and we came up short.”
