Very little went well for Josh Allen in a frustrating game Thursday night versus the Texans.
And still he nearly managed to driving the Buffalo Bills to a win before an late pick in the final minute ended their hopes in a close loss.
The quarterback took consecutive tackles for loss on the Bills’ last drive, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (7-4) gained significant yardage on a quick throw from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.
After a false-start penalty created a fourth down situation for the Bills, Calen Bullock picked off Allen’s throw at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds left.
We possessed a opportunity to come out on top there at the end,” Josh Allen stated. “We did a solid job of hanging tough and our defense bailed us out a few instances. We’ve got figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”
Proved tough for the signal-caller to get anything going on a evening he was brought down a personal-worst on eight occasions and pressured four additional instances. Allen threw for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after accounting for six touchdowns in a victory over the Buccaneers the previous week.
Whenever they pressure our QB 12 times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It is not a safe way to compete and it’s not a good way to preserve our field general in good shape for the remaining games. We need to play better.”
Allen was sluggish to get up after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He said he was OK and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being hit so many times during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I encountered a couple myself. I need to be better at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I found myself losing ground.”
Allen surrendered 70 yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half sacks to lead the Texans. His second one came when he nearly sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and the defender rose and pursued him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt in the third quarter.
Buffalo competed 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 previously held out for the opening drive of a defeat to the Patriots in the fifth week after additionally being delayed for a meeting.
“Nothing new. We are approaching it one day at a time,” McDermott noted. “I thought he had a improved week, but we’re handling it step by step. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the guys that provide the best chance.”
Shakir led the Bills with eight catches for 110 yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
The quarterback was disappointed that the Bills were unable to make plays down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we must perform, and we didn’t do a good job of that this evening,” he concluded. “No matter the situation and whatever condition, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we came up short.”
