Little went right for the Bills' quarterback in a disappointing game Thursday night versus the Houston Texans.
And still he nearly managed to willing the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an late pick in the last moments ended their hopes in a 23-19 defeat.
The quarterback took back-to-back tackles for loss on the team's last drive, resulting in a long fourth down, but the Bills (7-4) picked up 44 yards on a quick throw from Allen to a receiver, who tossed a backward pass to another teammate.
Following a false-start penalty led to a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, Calen Bullock intercepted Allen’s throw at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds remaining.
“We had a opportunity to win it there at the end,” Josh Allen stated. “We did a good job of hanging tough and our defense bailed us out a few instances. We must figure it out, and we didn’t.”
Proved difficult for the signal-caller to get anything going on a evening he was brought down a career-high on eight occasions and pressured four other times. The QB threw for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after producing six touchdowns in a victory over Tampa Bay the previous week.
Whenever they hit our quarterback a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It’s just not a safe way to play and it’s not a smart way to keep our quarterback in good shape for the remaining games. We’ve got to play better.”
Allen was sluggish to get up after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He said he was fine and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being hit so frequently during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I encountered a few personally. I need to be more effective at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I was losing ground.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had two and a half tackles for loss to top the Houston defense. His second one occurred when he almost sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and the defender rose and chased him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt early in the third.
Buffalo competed for a second consecutive matchup without wideout Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was tardy to a team meeting before their last game. He was previously benched for the opening drive of a defeat to the Patriots in the fifth week after additionally being delayed for a team session.
No change. We’re just taking it one day at a time,” the coach noted. “I felt he had a improved 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 guys that give us the best chance.”
Shakir topped the Bills with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
Allen was frustrated that the team couldn’t make plays in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we must execute, and we failed to succeed of that tonight,” he concluded. “Whatever situation and whatever circumstance, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
