Very little clicked for Josh Allen in a disappointing game on Thursday evening against the Texans.
And still he came close to willing the Buffalo Bills to a win before an interception in the last moments ended their hopes in a 23-19 loss.
The quarterback endured consecutive sacks on the team's last drive, leading to a long fourth down, but Buffalo (7-4) gained 44 yards on a quick throw from Josh Allen to a receiver, who flipped a lateral to Khalil Shakir.
After a pre-snap infraction created a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, Calen Bullock intercepted Allen’s pass at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds left.
“We had a chance to win it there at the end,” Josh Allen stated. “We did a good job of staying in it and our defense bailed us out a couple of times. We must figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”
Proved difficult for the signal-caller to get anything going on a evening he was sacked a personal-worst on eight occasions and hit four additional instances. Allen passed for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and zero scores after accounting for six touchdowns in a victory over the Buccaneers the previous week.
“When they pressure our QB a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “I don’t like that stat at all. It’s just not a healthy way to compete and it’s not a smart way to keep our quarterback in good shape for the rest of the season. We need to play better.”
Allen was sluggish to rise after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was OK and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being hit so many times on Thursday.
“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I encountered a couple personally. I need to be better at disposing of the football. Too many times, I was losing ground.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had two and a half tackles for loss to lead the Houston defense. Another sack came when he nearly took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and the defender got up and pursued him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt in the third quarter.
The Bills competed for a second straight game without wideout Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their last game. He was earlier benched for the first series of a defeat to the Patriots in the fifth week after additionally being late for a meeting.
No change. We’re just taking it day by day,” McDermott noted. “I thought he had a better week, but we are taking it step by step. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we went with the players that provide the best chance.”
Khalil Shakir topped the Bills with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 yards and a score.
Allen was disappointed that the team couldn’t make plays down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we’ve got execute, and we didn’t succeed of that this evening,” he said. “No matter the scenario and whatever circumstance, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”
