Very little went well for the Bills' quarterback in a disappointing game Thursday night versus the Houston Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to driving the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an late pick in the final minute ended their hopes in a close defeat.
Allen endured back-to-back sacks on the Bills’ last drive, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (7-4) gained significant yardage on a short pass from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a backward pass to another teammate.
After a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, Calen Bullock picked off Allen’s throw at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds remaining.
“We had a chance to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Allen stated. “Our team performed a solid job of hanging tough and our defensive unit saved us a few instances. We’ve got find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was tough for Allen to get anything going on a night he was brought down a career-high on eight occasions and hit four other times. Allen passed for 253 yards with two interceptions and zero scores after producing six touchdowns in a victory over the Buccaneers the previous week.
Whenever they pressure our quarterback a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach Sean McDermott commented. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It is not a healthy way to compete and it’s not a smart way to keep our quarterback healthy for the rest of the season. We need to play better.”
Josh Allen was sluggish to get up after a tackle in the first half. He said 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 hit so frequently during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I encountered a few personally. I need to be more effective at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I was losing ground.”
The Bills' QB surrendered 70 yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half tackles for loss to top the Houston defense. His second one occurred when he nearly sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and Anderson got up and pursued him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt early in the third.
The Bills competed for a second straight game without receiver Keon Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was late to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was previously held out for the first series of a defeat to the Patriots in Week 5 after additionally being delayed for a meeting.
“Nothing new. We’re just approaching it day by day,” the coach noted. “I felt he had a improved week, but we’re taking it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we went with the guys that provide the optimal opportunity.”
Khalil Shakir topped the Bills with eight receptions for 110 yards and Cook had 116 yards and a score.
The quarterback was disappointed that the Bills couldn’t execute down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we must perform, and we didn’t do a good job of that tonight,” he concluded. “Whatever scenario and whatever condition, we need to find a way, and we came up short.”
