Very little went right for Josh Allen in a tough game Thursday night against the Texans.
Yet he came close to driving the Bills to a win before an interception in the final minute sealed their fate in a 23-19 defeat.
Allen endured back-to-back sacks on the team's last drive, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (7-4) picked up 44 yards on a short pass from Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a lateral to another teammate.
After a pre-snap infraction created a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, Calen Bullock picked off Allen’s pass at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds remaining.
We possessed a opportunity to win it there at the end,” Josh Allen stated. “We did a good job of staying in it and our defense bailed us out a few instances. We’ve got find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was tough for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a evening he was sacked a career-high on eight occasions and pressured four additional instances. The QB threw for 253 yards with two interceptions and zero scores after accounting for six TDs in a victory over the Buccaneers the previous week.
“When they pressure our quarterback 12 times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach McDermott said. “I don’t like that stat at all. It’s just not a healthy way to compete and it isn't a good way to preserve our quarterback healthy for the remaining games. We’ve got to play better.”
Josh Allen was slow to get up after a tackle in the first half. He indicated he was fine and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being contacted so many times during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I encountered a few personally. I need to be better at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I found myself losing ground.”
Allen surrendered 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Anderson had two and a half tackles for loss to lead the Texans. Another sack occurred when he nearly sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and the defender got up and chased him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt in the third quarter.
The Bills played for a second consecutive matchup absent receiver Keon Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was late to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was previously held out for the opening drive of a loss to New England in the fifth week after also being delayed for a team session.
No change. We’re just taking it day by day,” the coach noted. “I thought he had a better week, but we are handling it step by step. It was not that it was ignored, but we went with the players that provide the optimal opportunity.”
Khalil Shakir led the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
Allen was frustrated that the Bills were unable to execute down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we must execute, and we failed to succeed of that this evening,” he concluded. “Whatever situation and whatever condition, we need to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
