Little clicked for Josh Allen in a frustrating game Thursday night against the Texans.
And still he nearly managed to willing the Bills to a victory before an late pick in the final minute ended their hopes in a 23-19 defeat.
The quarterback took consecutive tackles for loss on the team's final possession, leading to a long fourth down, but Buffalo (7-4) picked up significant yardage on a short pass from Allen to a receiver, who tossed a backward pass to another teammate.
After a pre-snap infraction created a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, a Texans defender intercepted Allen’s pass at the Houston 9 with under half a minute left.
We possessed a opportunity to come out on top there at the end,” Josh Allen stated. “We did a solid job of hanging tough and our defense bailed us out a few instances. We must figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was tough for Allen to establish rhythm on a night he was sacked a career-high on eight occasions and pressured four other times. The QB passed for 253 yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after accounting for six touchdowns in a victory over the Buccaneers the previous week.
“When they pressure our quarterback 12 times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head 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 preserve our field general in good shape for the remaining games. We’ve got to play better.”
Allen was sluggish to rise after a sack in the opening two quarters. He said he was fine and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being hit so many times during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I encountered a few personally. I need to be more effective at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I found myself losing ground.”
Allen surrendered 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had 2.5 tackles for loss to lead the Houston defense. His second one came when he almost sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and Anderson rose and pursued him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt in the third quarter.
The Bills competed for a second consecutive matchup without wideout 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 the Patriots in Week 5 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 better week, but we’re taking it one day at a time. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the guys that provide the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
Allen was frustrated that the Bills couldn’t execute down the stretch.
In the end, we’ve got execute, and we didn’t succeed of that this evening,” he concluded. “No matter the scenario and whatever circumstance, we need to find a way, and we came up short.”
