Little clicked for Josh Allen in a tough contest on Thursday evening versus the Houston Texans.
Yet 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 loss.
The quarterback endured consecutive sacks on the Bills’ final possession, leading to a long fourth down, but Buffalo (7-4) gained significant yardage on a short pass from Allen to a receiver, who tossed a lateral to another teammate.
After a pre-snap infraction created a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, Calen Bullock intercepted the quarterback's throw at the 9-yard line with under half a minute left.
We possessed a chance to win it there at the end,” Josh Allen said. “Our team performed a solid job of hanging tough and our defense saved us a couple of times. We’ve got find a way, and we didn’t.”
Proved difficult for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a night he was sacked a career-high on eight occasions and hit four additional instances. The QB passed for 253 yards with two interceptions and zero scores after producing six touchdowns in a win over the Buccaneers the previous week.
Whenever they pressure our QB a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It’s just not a safe way to play and it isn't a smart way to keep our field general 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 opening two quarters. He indicated he was OK and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” 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 myself. I need to be more effective at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I found myself going backwards.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 tackles for loss to top the Texans. His second one came when he almost sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and the defender got up and chased him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt early in the third.
The Bills played for a second consecutive matchup absent wideout Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was late to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was earlier benched for the first series of a loss to New England in the fifth week after additionally being late for a meeting.
No change. We’re just approaching it day by day,” McDermott noted. “I thought he had a improved week, but we are handling 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 catches for 110 yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
Allen was frustrated that the team couldn’t execute in crucial moments.
In the end, we’ve got perform, and we failed to succeed of that this evening,” he said. “Whatever situation and any condition, we need to find a way, and we came up short.”
