Very little went well for the Bills' quarterback in a disappointing contest Thursday night versus the Texans.
And still he came close to willing the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an interception in the last moments sealed their fate in a close loss.
The quarterback took consecutive sacks on the Bills’ final possession, leading to a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (with seven wins) gained significant yardage on a short pass from Allen to a receiver, who flipped a backward pass to another teammate.
After a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth down situation for the Bills, Calen Bullock intercepted the quarterback's throw at the Houston 9 with under half a minute left.
We possessed a chance to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen stated. “Our team performed a good job of hanging tough and our defense saved us a few instances. We’ve got figure it out, and we didn’t.”
Proved difficult for Allen to establish rhythm on a evening he was sacked a personal-worst eight times and hit four other times. Allen threw for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after producing six TDs in a win over the Buccaneers the previous week.
“When they pressure our QB a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott said. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It’s just not a healthy way to compete and it isn't a smart way to preserve our quarterback healthy for the rest of the season. We need to play better.”
Josh Allen was sluggish to rise after a sack in the opening two quarters. He said he was OK and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being contacted so many times on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I ran into a couple personally. I need to be better at disposing of the football. Too many times, I found myself losing ground.”
Allen lost 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Anderson had two and a half tackles for loss to lead the Houston defense. His second one came when he almost sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and Anderson got up and chased him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt in the third quarter.
Buffalo competed for a second straight game absent receiver Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was late to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was previously benched for the opening drive of a defeat to New England in the fifth week after additionally being delayed for a team session.
“Nothing new. We’re just approaching it one day at a time,” the coach noted. “I thought he had a improved week, but we’re handling it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the guys that give us the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir led the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
Allen was frustrated that the team couldn’t make plays in crucial moments.
In the end, we’ve got execute, and we failed to succeed of that this evening,” he concluded. “Whatever situation and whatever condition, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”
