Very little went right for Josh Allen in a tough contest on Thursday evening against the Houston Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to willing the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an interception in the last moments ended their hopes in a close loss.
The quarterback took back-to-back tackles for loss on the team's last drive, leading to a long fourth down, but Buffalo (with seven wins) gained 44 yards on a quick throw from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a lateral to another teammate.
After a false-start penalty led to a fourth down situation for the Bills, Calen Bullock picked off the quarterback's throw at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds remaining.
We possessed a chance to win it there at the end,” Josh Allen said. “We did a good job of staying in it and our defensive unit bailed us out a few instances. We’ve got figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”
Proved tough for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a evening he was sacked a personal-worst on eight occasions and pressured four additional instances. The QB passed for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after accounting for six TDs in a victory over Tampa Bay last week.
“When they hit our quarterback 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It’s just not a safe way to play and it isn't a good way to keep our field general in good shape for the remaining games. We need to play better.”
Allen was slow to get up after a sack in the first half. He said he was fine and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being hit so many times on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I ran into a couple myself. I need to be more effective at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I was losing ground.”
Allen surrendered 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half sacks to lead the Texans. His second one occurred when he nearly sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and the defender got up and chased him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt early in the third.
The Bills played for a second consecutive matchup absent wideout Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was late to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was previously held out for the opening drive of a loss to the Patriots in the fifth week after also being late for a meeting.
No change. We are taking it one day at a time,” McDermott noted. “I felt he had a improved week, but we’re taking it step by step. It was not that it was ignored, but we went with the players that provide the best chance.”
Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 yards and a score.
Allen was frustrated that the Bills couldn’t make plays in crucial moments.
In the end, we must execute, and we failed to succeed of that tonight,” he concluded. “Whatever situation and any circumstance, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we came up short.”
