Very little went right for Josh Allen in a frustrating contest Thursday night against the Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to willing the Bills to a victory before an late pick in the last moments sealed their fate in a close defeat.
Allen took consecutive sacks on the Bills’ final possession, leading to a long fourth down, but Buffalo (with seven wins) picked up 44 yards on a quick throw from Allen to a receiver, who flipped a backward pass to another teammate.
After a false-start penalty created a fourth down situation for the Bills, Calen Bullock picked off Allen’s pass at the 9-yard line with under half a minute remaining.
“We had a opportunity to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Allen said. “We did a solid job of hanging tough and our defensive unit saved us a few instances. We’ve got find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was difficult for the signal-caller to get anything going on a night he was sacked a personal-worst eight times and hit four additional instances. Allen passed for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after producing six touchdowns in a victory over Tampa Bay the previous week.
Whenever they hit our QB 12 times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It’s just not a safe way to play and it isn't a smart way to preserve our field general in good shape for the rest of the season. We need to play better.”
Josh Allen was slow to rise after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was OK and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being hit so frequently during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I ran into a few myself. I’ve got to be more effective at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I found myself going backwards.”
Allen surrendered 70 yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had two and a half sacks to lead the Houston defense. His second one came when he nearly sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and the defender rose and chased him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt early in the third.
The Bills played for a second consecutive matchup 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 benched for the first series of a loss to the Patriots in Week 5 after additionally being delayed for a team session.
“Nothing new. We are approaching it day by day,” the coach noted. “I felt he had a better week, but we are taking it one day at a time. It was not that it was ignored, but we opted for the players that give us the optimal opportunity.”
Khalil Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.
Allen was disappointed that the team were unable to execute down the stretch.
In the end, we’ve got perform, and we failed to succeed of that tonight,” he said. “No matter the situation and any circumstance, we need to find a way, and we came up short.”
