Very little went right for Josh Allen in a frustrating game on Thursday evening against the Texans.
And still he nearly managed to willing the Buffalo Bills to a win before an late pick in the final minute ended their hopes in a 23-19 defeat.
Allen took consecutive sacks on the Bills’ final possession, leading to a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (with seven wins) picked up 44 yards on a quick throw from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a lateral to another teammate.
After a pre-snap infraction created a fourth down situation for Buffalo, a Texans defender intercepted the quarterback's pass at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds left.
“We had a chance to win it there at the conclusion,” Allen said. “Our team performed a solid job of hanging tough and our defense bailed us out a few instances. We’ve got figure it out, and we didn’t.”
It was tough for the signal-caller to get anything going on a night he was brought down a career-high eight times and hit four other times. Allen passed for 253 yards with two interceptions and zero scores after producing six touchdowns in a victory over the Buccaneers the previous week.
Whenever they pressure our QB 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach Sean McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It is 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’ve got to play better.”
Allen was sluggish to rise after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was OK and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being contacted so frequently during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I ran into a couple personally. I need to be more effective at disposing of the football. Too many times, I was losing ground.”
Allen surrendered 70 yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had 2.5 tackles for loss to top the Houston defense. His second one occurred when he nearly took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and the defender rose and pursued him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt early in the third.
Buffalo played for a second consecutive matchup without receiver Keon Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was tardy to a team meeting before their last game. He was earlier held out for the opening drive of a defeat to New England in the fifth week after additionally being delayed for a team session.
No change. We are taking it one day at a time,” McDermott said. “I felt he had a improved week, but we’re taking it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we opted for the guys that provide the best chance.”
Shakir led the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
The quarterback was disappointed that the team couldn’t make plays down the stretch.
In the end, we must execute, and we didn’t do a good job of that tonight,” he said. “Whatever scenario and any circumstance, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”
