Little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a disappointing contest Thursday night against the Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to willing the Bills to a victory before an interception in the last moments ended their hopes in a 23-19 loss.
Allen endured back-to-back tackles for loss on the Bills’ final possession, leading to a long fourth down, but the Bills (7-4) gained significant yardage on a short pass from Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a lateral to Khalil Shakir.
After a pre-snap infraction created a fourth down situation for the Bills, a Texans defender picked off Allen’s throw at the 9-yard line with under half a minute remaining.
We possessed a chance to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Allen stated. “Our team performed a solid job of staying in it and our defensive unit bailed us out a couple of times. We’ve got find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was tough for Allen to get anything going on a evening he was sacked a career-high on eight occasions and hit four other times. The QB threw for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after producing six TDs in a victory over the Buccaneers last week.
“When they pressure our quarterback a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott said. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It’s just not a healthy way to play and it isn't a smart way to keep our quarterback healthy for the rest of the season. We’ve got to improve our performance.”
Josh Allen was sluggish to rise after a sack in the opening two quarters. He said he was OK and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was asked about being hit so frequently on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I encountered a couple personally. I’ve got to be more effective at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I found myself losing ground.”
The Bills' QB surrendered 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 tackles for loss to top the Houston defense. Another sack came when he nearly sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and the defender got up and pursued him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt early in the third.
The Bills competed for a second consecutive matchup absent receiver Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was late to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was previously benched for the first series of a loss to the Patriots in Week 5 after also being delayed for a team session.
No change. We are taking it day by day,” McDermott noted. “I felt he had a improved week, but we’re handling it one day at a time. It was not that it was ignored, but we opted for the guys that provide the optimal opportunity.”
Khalil Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
The quarterback was frustrated that the Bills couldn’t execute in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we’ve got execute, and we failed to do a good job of that tonight,” he said. “Whatever scenario and any circumstance, we need to find a way, and we didn’t.”
