Very little clicked for Josh Allen in a tough game Thursday night versus the Texans.
And still he came close to willing the Buffalo Bills to a win before an late pick in the last moments ended their hopes in a 23-19 loss.
Allen took back-to-back tackles for loss on the team's final possession, leading to a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (with seven wins) gained 44 yards on a quick throw from Allen to a receiver, who tossed a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.
After a pre-snap infraction created a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, Calen Bullock intercepted the quarterback's pass at the Houston 9 with under half a minute remaining.
“We had a chance to win it there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen stated. “We did a solid job of staying in it and our defense saved us a couple of times. We must figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”
Proved tough for Allen to establish rhythm on a night he was sacked a career-high on eight occasions and pressured four other times. Allen passed for 253 yards with two interceptions and zero scores after producing six touchdowns in a victory over the Buccaneers last week.
“When they hit our quarterback a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It’s just not a healthy way to compete and it isn't a good way to preserve our quarterback in good shape for the rest of the season. We need to improve our performance.”
Allen was sluggish to get up after a sack in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was OK and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being hit so frequently on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I encountered a few personally. I need to be better at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I found myself going backwards.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half sacks to lead the Texans. Another sack came when he almost took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and Anderson rose and chased him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt in the third quarter.
Buffalo played for a second straight game absent wideout Keon Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was late to a squad gathering before their last game. He was previously benched for the first series of a defeat to New England in Week 5 after additionally being delayed for a meeting.
No change. We are approaching it day by day,” the coach noted. “I felt he had a improved week, but we are handling it step by step. It was not that it was ignored, but we went with the guys that give us the best chance.”
Shakir led the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
Allen was disappointed that the team couldn’t execute down the stretch.
In the end, we’ve got execute, and we failed to do a good job of that this evening,” he concluded. “No matter the situation and whatever circumstance, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
