Very little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a disappointing contest Thursday night versus the Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to willing the Bills to a victory before an late pick in the last moments sealed their fate in a 23-19 defeat.
Allen took back-to-back tackles for loss on the team's last drive, leading to a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (with seven wins) gained 44 yards on a short pass from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.
Following a pre-snap infraction created a fourth down situation for Buffalo, Calen Bullock intercepted the quarterback's throw at the Houston 9 with under half a minute remaining.
“We had a opportunity to win it there at the conclusion,” Allen stated. “Our team performed a good job of hanging tough and our defense bailed us out a couple of times. We’ve got figure it out, and we didn’t.”
It was tough for Allen to establish rhythm on a evening he was sacked a personal-worst eight times and hit four additional instances. The QB passed for 253 yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after producing six touchdowns in a victory over the Buccaneers last week.
“When they pressure our quarterback a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach Sean McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It is not a safe way to play and it isn't a smart way to keep our field general healthy for the rest of the season. We’ve got to play better.”
Allen was sluggish to get up after a sack in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was OK and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being contacted so frequently on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I ran into a couple personally. I need to be better at disposing of the football. Too many times, I was losing ground.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Anderson had 2.5 sacks to lead the Texans. His second one came when he almost took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and Anderson got up and pursued him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt in the third quarter.
The Bills competed for a second consecutive matchup without wideout Keon Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was late to a squad gathering before their last game. He was earlier held out for the first series of a defeat to New England in Week 5 after additionally being delayed for a team session.
“Nothing new. We’re just approaching it day by day,” the coach said. “I thought he had a improved week, but we’re taking it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the guys that provide the best chance.”
Shakir led the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
The quarterback was frustrated that the Bills couldn’t execute down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we’ve got execute, and we didn’t succeed of that this evening,” he concluded. “Whatever scenario and any circumstance, we need to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
