Very little went well for Josh Allen in a tough game Thursday night against the Texans.
And still he came close to driving the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an interception in the last moments ended their hopes in a 23-19 loss.
Allen endured consecutive sacks on the Bills’ final possession, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (with seven wins) gained significant yardage on a quick throw from Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a backward pass to another teammate.
Following a false-start penalty created a fourth down situation for the Bills, a Texans defender picked off the quarterback's throw at the Houston 9 with under half a minute left.
“We had a opportunity to win it there at the end,” Allen said. “Our team performed a solid job of staying in it and our defensive unit bailed us out a couple of times. We’ve got figure it out, and we didn’t.”
Proved tough for Allen to establish rhythm on a night he was sacked a personal-worst on eight occasions and pressured four other times. The QB threw for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after accounting for six touchdowns in a win over the Buccaneers the previous week.
“When they hit our QB a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach Sean McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It is not a healthy way to compete and it’s not a smart way to preserve our field general in good shape 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 fine and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was asked about being hit so frequently during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I encountered a few personally. I’ve got to be more effective at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I found myself losing ground.”
Allen surrendered 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 tackles for loss to top the Texans. His second one occurred when he nearly sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and the defender rose and chased him across the field 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 absent receiver Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their last game. He was earlier benched for the opening drive of a loss to New England in Week 5 after additionally being delayed for a team session.
“Nothing new. We’re just taking it one day at a time,” the coach noted. “I felt he had a improved week, but we are taking it one day at a time. It was not that it was ignored, but we went with the players that provide the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir led the Buffalo with eight catches for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a score.
The quarterback was disappointed that the team were unable to make plays in crucial moments.
In the end, we must perform, and we failed to succeed of that tonight,” he said. “No matter the situation and any circumstance, we’ve got to find a way, and we came up short.”
