Very little clicked for Josh Allen in a tough contest on Thursday evening versus the Houston Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to driving the Bills to a win before an interception in the final minute ended their hopes in a 23-19 loss.
The quarterback took consecutive tackles for loss on the team's last drive, resulting in a long fourth down, but the Bills (7-4) picked up 44 yards on a quick throw from Josh Allen to a receiver, who flipped a backward pass to another teammate.
After a false-start penalty led to a fourth down situation for Buffalo, Calen Bullock intercepted Allen’s pass at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds left.
“We had a opportunity to win it there at the conclusion,” Allen said. “We did a good job of staying in it and our defensive unit saved us a few instances. We’ve got find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
Proved tough for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a evening he was sacked a career-high eight times and pressured four additional instances. The QB passed for 253 yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after accounting for six touchdowns in a victory over Tampa Bay last week.
Whenever they pressure our quarterback 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach Sean McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It’s just not a healthy way to compete and it’s not a smart way to keep our field general in good shape for the remaining games. We’ve got to play better.”
Allen was sluggish to get up after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was fine and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being hit so frequently during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I encountered a couple personally. I’ve got to be more effective at disposing of the football. Too many times, I was losing ground.”
The Bills' QB surrendered 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 sacks to lead the Houston defense. Another sack occurred when he nearly took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and Anderson rose and pursued him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt in the third quarter.
Buffalo competed for a second straight game without wideout 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 loss to the Patriots in the fifth week after also being late for a meeting.
No change. We are approaching it one day at a time,” McDermott said. “I felt he had a better week, but we’re handling it step by step. It was not that it was ignored, but we opted for the players that provide the best chance.”
Khalil Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight catches for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
The quarterback was disappointed that the Bills couldn’t make plays down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we’ve got perform, and we failed to do a good job of that tonight,” he said. “No matter the scenario and whatever condition, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we came up short.”
