Very little went right for Josh Allen in a tough contest on Thursday evening against the Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to driving the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an late pick in the last moments ended their hopes in a 23-19 defeat.
The quarterback took back-to-back tackles for loss on the Bills’ last drive, resulting in a long fourth down, but Buffalo (7-4) gained significant yardage on a quick throw from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a lateral to Khalil Shakir.
After a false-start penalty led to a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, a Texans defender intercepted Allen’s throw at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds left.
“We had a opportunity to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen stated. “We did a solid job of hanging tough and our defensive unit bailed us out a few instances. We’ve got find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was tough for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a evening he was sacked a personal-worst eight times and pressured four additional instances. The QB threw for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after producing six TDs in a victory over Tampa Bay the previous week.
“When they pressure our QB 12 times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott commented. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It is not a safe way to play and it’s not a smart way to keep our field general in good shape for the remaining games. 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 shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being contacted so frequently during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I encountered a couple myself. I need to be better at disposing of the football. Too many times, I was going backwards.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 tackles for loss to top the Houston defense. His second one occurred when he nearly took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and the defender got up and pursued him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt early in the third.
Buffalo played for a second straight game absent receiver Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was earlier held out for the opening drive of a defeat to New England in Week 5 after also being delayed for a team session.
No change. We’re just taking it one day at a time,” McDermott said. “I thought he had a better week, but we’re handling it one day at a time. It was not that it was ignored, but we went with the players that provide the best chance.”
Shakir led the Bills with eight catches for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.
Allen was frustrated that the Bills couldn’t make plays in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we’ve got execute, and we didn’t do a good job of that this evening,” he said. “Whatever situation and whatever condition, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
