Very little went right for Josh Allen in a disappointing contest on Thursday evening against the Texans.
And still he came close to driving the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an late pick in the final minute sealed their fate in a 23-19 loss.
Allen endured consecutive tackles for loss on the team's last drive, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (7-4) gained 44 yards on a quick throw from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.
Following a false-start penalty created a fourth down situation for Buffalo, Calen Bullock picked off Allen’s throw at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds remaining.
“We had a opportunity to come out on top there at the end,” Allen said. “We did a good job of hanging tough and our defensive unit bailed us out a few instances. We must figure it out, and we didn’t.”
Proved difficult for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a night he was brought down a career-high eight times and pressured four additional instances. The QB passed for 253 yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after accounting for six touchdowns in a victory over Tampa Bay the previous week.
Whenever they pressure our quarterback a dozen 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 isn't a smart way to keep our field general in good shape for the remaining games. We need to improve our performance.”
Allen was sluggish to rise after a sack in the first half. He said he was OK and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being contacted so many times during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I ran into a few personally. I need to be better at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I was going backwards.”
Allen lost 70 yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 sacks to top the Houston defense. Another sack came when he almost sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and Anderson rose and pursued him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt early in the third.
Buffalo competed for a second consecutive matchup without wideout Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was late to a team meeting before their last game. He was previously held out for the opening drive of a loss to New England in the fifth week after also being late for a meeting.
“Nothing new. We’re just taking it day by day,” the coach noted. “I thought he had a improved week, but we’re handling it one day at a time. It was not that it was ignored, but we went with the players that provide the best chance.”
Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
The quarterback was disappointed that the team couldn’t execute in crucial moments.
In the end, we must perform, and we failed to do a good job of that this evening,” he concluded. “Whatever scenario and whatever condition, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”
