Very little went well for the Bills' quarterback in a disappointing contest Thursday night versus the Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to willing the Bills to a win before an interception in the last moments sealed their fate in a 23-19 loss.
Allen endured back-to-back tackles for loss on the team's last drive, leading to a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (7-4) gained significant yardage on a short pass from Allen to a receiver, who flipped a lateral to another teammate.
Following a pre-snap infraction created a fourth down situation for Buffalo, Calen Bullock picked off the quarterback's pass at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds remaining.
“We had a chance to come out on top there at the end,” Josh Allen said. “We did a solid job of hanging tough and our defense saved us a couple of times. We’ve got find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was difficult for Allen to get anything going on a evening he was sacked a career-high on eight occasions and pressured four additional instances. The QB threw for 253 yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after accounting for six touchdowns in a win over the Buccaneers last week.
“When they pressure our QB a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach McDermott said. “I don’t like that stat at all. It’s just not a safe way to play and it’s not a good way to keep our quarterback healthy for the remaining games. We need to play better.”
Allen was slow to get up after a sack in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was fine and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was asked about being contacted so frequently during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I ran into a few personally. I’ve got to be more effective at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I was going backwards.”
The Bills' QB surrendered 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Anderson had two and a half tackles for loss to lead the Texans. His second one occurred when he nearly sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and Anderson rose and pursued him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt early in the third.
The Bills competed for a second straight game absent receiver Keon Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was late to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was previously held out for the opening drive of a loss to New England in the fifth week after additionally being late for a team session.
No change. We’re just approaching it one day at a time,” McDermott said. “I thought he had a better week, but we are handling it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the players that provide the best chance.”
Khalil Shakir led the Buffalo with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
Allen was disappointed that the team couldn’t make plays in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we must execute, and we failed to do a good job of that tonight,” he concluded. “No matter the situation and any condition, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”
