Very little went well for Josh Allen in a tough contest Thursday night versus the Texans.
Yet he came close to willing the Bills to a victory before an interception in the last moments ended their hopes in a 23-19 loss.
The quarterback took consecutive tackles for loss on the Bills’ final possession, leading to a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (with seven wins) picked up significant yardage on a quick throw from Allen to a receiver, who flipped a lateral to Khalil Shakir.
After a false-start penalty led to a fourth down situation for Buffalo, Calen Bullock picked off Allen’s throw at the Houston 9 with under half a minute remaining.
We possessed a opportunity to win it there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen said. “We did a good job of hanging tough and our defense saved us a few instances. We must figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was tough for the signal-caller to get anything going on a night he was brought down a career-high on eight occasions and pressured four additional instances. Allen threw for 253 yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after accounting for six touchdowns in a victory over Tampa Bay the previous week.
“When they pressure our quarterback 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach McDermott said. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It is not a healthy way to play and it isn't a good way to keep our field general in good shape for the remaining games. We’ve got to improve our performance.”
Allen was slow to rise after a sack in the first half. He indicated he was fine and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being contacted so many times on Thursday.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I ran into a few personally. I need to be more effective at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I found myself losing ground.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had 2.5 tackles for loss to top 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.
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 previous contest. He was earlier held out for the first series of a loss to the Patriots in the fifth week after additionally being delayed for a meeting.
No change. We are approaching it day by day,” McDermott said. “I felt he had a better week, but we are taking it step by step. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we opted for the players that provide the optimal opportunity.”
Khalil Shakir topped the Bills with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.
Allen was disappointed that the team were unable to execute down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we must execute, and we failed to succeed of that tonight,” he concluded. “Whatever situation and whatever condition, we’ve got to find a way, and we came up short.”
