Very little went right for Josh Allen in a frustrating contest Thursday night versus the Texans.
And still he nearly managed to willing the Bills to a win before an late pick in the final minute sealed their fate in a 23-19 defeat.
Allen endured back-to-back tackles for loss on the Bills’ final possession, leading to a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (with seven wins) picked up 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, a Texans defender intercepted the quarterback's throw at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds remaining.
We possessed a opportunity to win it there at the conclusion,” Allen said. “Our team performed a solid job of hanging tough and our defense bailed us out a couple of times. We must figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”
Proved difficult for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a night he was sacked a career-high on eight occasions and pressured four other times. Allen passed for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after accounting for six TDs in a victory over the Buccaneers the previous week.
Whenever they pressure our quarterback 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott said. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It is not a safe way to compete and it’s not a smart way to preserve our field general in good shape for the rest of the season. We need to improve our performance.”
Josh Allen was sluggish to get up after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He said he was fine and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being contacted so frequently on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I ran into a few myself. I need to be better at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I was losing ground.”
The Bills' QB surrendered 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 tackles for loss to lead the Houston defense. Another sack came when he almost took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and the defender rose and pursued him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt early in the third.
Buffalo played for a second straight game without receiver Keon Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was late to a squad gathering before their last game. He was previously held out for the first series of a loss to the Patriots in the fifth week after also being late for a team session.
“Nothing new. We’re just taking it one day at a time,” McDermott noted. “I thought he had a improved week, but we are taking it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we went with the guys that give us the best chance.”
Shakir topped the Bills with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.
The quarterback was frustrated that the team couldn’t make plays down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we must execute, and we failed to do a good job of that this evening,” he concluded. “No matter the situation and whatever condition, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”
