Very little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a frustrating game Thursday night against the Houston Texans.
And still he came close to willing the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an interception in the last moments ended their hopes in a 23-19 defeat.
Allen endured back-to-back tackles for loss on the Bills’ final possession, leading to a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (7-4) picked up 44 yards on a quick throw from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a backward pass to another teammate.
Following a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth down situation for the Bills, a Texans defender picked off the quarterback's pass at the Houston 9 with under half a minute left.
We possessed a opportunity to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Allen stated. “Our team performed a good job of staying in it and our defensive unit saved us a few instances. We must figure it out, and we didn’t.”
It was difficult for Allen to get anything going on a night he was brought down a personal-worst on eight occasions and hit four additional instances. The QB threw for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after accounting for six TDs in a victory over the Buccaneers the previous week.
Whenever they pressure our quarterback a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It is not a healthy way to play and it isn't a good way to preserve our quarterback healthy for the remaining games. We need to improve our performance.”
Josh Allen was slow 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 awkwardly. He was questioned about being contacted so frequently during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I encountered a few myself. I’ve got to be better at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I found myself going backwards.”
The Bills' QB surrendered 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had two and a half tackles for loss to top the Houston defense. Another sack occurred when he nearly took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and Anderson rose and pursued him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt early in the third.
The Bills played for a second straight game without wideout Keon Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was previously held out for the first series of a loss to New England in the fifth week after also being late for a team session.
No change. We are approaching it day by day,” McDermott noted. “I thought he had a improved week, but we’re handling it step by step. It was not that it was ignored, but we opted for the players that provide the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.
The quarterback was disappointed that the Bills were unable to execute in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we’ve got execute, and we didn’t succeed of that this evening,” he concluded. “Whatever situation and any circumstance, we need to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
