Very little went right for the Bills' quarterback in a tough contest on Thursday evening versus the Houston Texans.
And still he came close to willing the Bills to a victory before an interception in the final minute sealed their fate in a close loss.
Allen endured back-to-back sacks on the team's final possession, leading to a long fourth down, but the Bills (7-4) gained 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 the Bills, Calen Bullock picked off Allen’s throw at the 9-yard line with under half a minute remaining.
“We had a chance to win it there at the conclusion,” Allen stated. “Our team performed a solid job of staying in it and our defense bailed us out a couple of times. We must find a way, and we didn’t.”
Proved difficult for the signal-caller to get anything going on a night he was sacked a personal-worst on eight occasions and hit four additional instances. The QB threw for 253 yards with two interceptions and zero scores after accounting for six touchdowns in a win over Tampa Bay the previous week.
Whenever they pressure our QB a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott said. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It is not a safe way to compete and it isn't a smart way to preserve our quarterback healthy for the rest of the season. We need to play better.”
Josh 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 fell on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being contacted so many times during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I ran into a few myself. I need to be better at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I was losing ground.”
Allen lost 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half sacks to top the Texans. Another sack occurred when he nearly sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and the defender rose and chased him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt in the third quarter.
The Bills played for a second consecutive matchup without wideout Keon 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 defeat to New England in the fifth week after additionally being late for a team session.
No change. We are approaching it one day at a time,” the coach noted. “I thought he had a improved week, but we’re handling it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the players that give us the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir led the Buffalo with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
Allen was frustrated that the team couldn’t execute in crucial moments.
In the end, we must perform, and we failed to succeed of that this evening,” he said. “Whatever scenario and any circumstance, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”
