Very little went well for Josh Allen in a disappointing contest Thursday night versus the Houston Texans.
And still he came close to willing the Bills to a victory before an late pick in the last moments sealed their fate in a 23-19 loss.
Allen endured consecutive tackles for loss on the Bills’ final possession, leading to a long fourth down, but Buffalo (7-4) gained 44 yards on a quick throw from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a lateral to Khalil Shakir.
Following a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, a Texans defender picked off Allen’s throw at the Houston 9 with under half a minute left.
“We had a opportunity to come out on top there at the end,” Allen said. “Our team performed a good job of hanging tough and our defense saved us a couple of times. We must find a way, and we didn’t.”
It was tough for the signal-caller to get anything going on a night he was brought down a personal-worst on eight occasions and hit four other times. The QB passed for 253 yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after accounting for six touchdowns in a victory over Tampa Bay the previous week.
“When they pressure our quarterback 12 times, I don’t like that,” Bills 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 keep our field general in good shape for the rest of the season. We need to play better.”
Allen was slow to rise after a sack in the first half. He said he was fine and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was asked about being hit so frequently during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I ran into a couple myself. I need to be more effective at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I was going backwards.”
The Bills' QB surrendered 70 yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had 2.5 sacks to lead the Texans. His second one came when he almost took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and the defender got up and chased him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt in the third quarter.
The Bills competed for a second straight game without wideout Keon Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a team meeting before their last game. He was previously held out for the first series of a defeat to the Patriots in the fifth week after additionally being late for a team session.
No change. We are taking it one day at a time,” McDermott noted. “I felt he had a improved week, but we are taking it step by step. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we opted for the guys that give us the best chance.”
Shakir led 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 make plays down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we must execute, and we failed to do a good job of that tonight,” he said. “No matter the scenario and whatever condition, we need to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
