Very little went right for Josh Allen in a frustrating contest on Thursday evening against the Houston Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to willing the Bills to a win before an late pick in the final minute sealed their fate in a close loss.
The quarterback took consecutive sacks on the team's 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 lateral to another teammate.
Following a pre-snap infraction created a fourth down situation for the Bills, a Texans defender picked off the quarterback's pass at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds remaining.
“We had a opportunity to win it there at the end,” Allen said. “We did a solid job of hanging tough and our defensive unit saved us a couple of times. We’ve got figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”
Proved tough for Allen to get anything going on a evening he was brought down a career-high on eight occasions and pressured four additional instances. Allen passed for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after accounting for six TDs in a victory over Tampa Bay last week.
“When they hit our QB a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It’s just not a healthy 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 sluggish to rise after a sack in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was OK and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being contacted so frequently during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I encountered a couple myself. I need to be better at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I was going backwards.”
Allen lost 70 yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 tackles for loss to lead the Houston defense. Another sack came when he almost sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and Anderson rose and chased him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt in the third quarter.
Buffalo played for a second straight game without wideout Keon Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was late to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was earlier held out for the first series of a loss to New England in the fifth week after also being delayed for a team session.
No change. We’re just taking it one day at a time,” the coach said. “I thought he had a better week, but we’re taking it step by step. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the guys that provide the best chance.”
Khalil Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
The quarterback was frustrated that the Bills couldn’t execute down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we must execute, and we didn’t do a good job of that tonight,” he said. “No matter the scenario and whatever circumstance, we need to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
