Little clicked for Josh Allen in a disappointing contest on Thursday evening versus the Texans.
And still he came close to driving the Buffalo Bills to a win before an late pick in the last moments sealed their fate in a 23-19 defeat.
Allen endured consecutive sacks on the team's final possession, resulting in a long fourth down, but the Bills (7-4) picked up 44 yards on a short pass from Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a lateral to another teammate.
Following a pre-snap infraction created a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, Calen Bullock intercepted Allen’s throw at the 9-yard line with under half a minute left.
“We had a chance to win it there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen said. “We did a solid job of hanging tough and our defense bailed us out a couple of times. We must figure it out, and we didn’t.”
Proved difficult for Allen to get anything going on a night he was sacked a career-high on eight occasions and pressured four additional instances. The QB passed for 253 yards with two interceptions and zero scores after producing six touchdowns in a victory over the Buccaneers last week.
“When they hit our QB 12 times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach McDermott said. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It’s just not a healthy way to play and it isn't a smart way to preserve our quarterback in good shape for the rest of the season. We need to improve our performance.”
Josh Allen was slow to rise after a tackle in the first half. He said he was OK and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being contacted so frequently during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I encountered a couple myself. I’ve got to be better at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I found myself losing ground.”
The Bills' QB surrendered 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had 2.5 sacks to top the Houston defense. His second one occurred when he nearly took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and the defender got up and pursued him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt early in the third.
Buffalo played for a second consecutive matchup without wideout Keon Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was tardy to a team meeting before their last game. 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 day by day,” the coach said. “I felt he had a improved week, but we’re handling it step by step. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the guys that provide the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
Allen was disappointed that the team couldn’t execute down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we must execute, and we didn’t do a good job of that this evening,” he concluded. “No matter the scenario and any condition, we need to discover a solution, and we came up short.”
