Very little clicked for Josh Allen in a disappointing game Thursday night against the Texans.
Yet he came close to willing the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an late pick in the last moments ended their hopes in a close loss.
Allen endured consecutive tackles for loss on the Bills’ last drive, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (with seven wins) gained significant yardage on a quick throw from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a backward pass to another teammate.
After a false-start penalty led to a fourth down situation for the Bills, a Texans defender picked off Allen’s throw at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds left.
We possessed a chance to win it there at the conclusion,” Allen stated. “Our team performed a solid job of staying in it and our defense saved us a couple of times. We must figure it out, and we didn’t.”
It was tough for the signal-caller to get anything going on a night he was brought down a career-high on eight occasions and pressured four additional instances. Allen threw for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after producing six TDs in a victory over Tampa Bay the previous week.
“When they hit our QB 12 times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach Sean McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It is not a healthy way to compete and it isn't a smart way to keep our field general in good shape for the remaining games. We’ve got to improve our performance.”
Allen was sluggish to rise after a sack in the first half. He indicated he was OK and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being hit so frequently on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I encountered a couple myself. I need to be more effective at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I found myself going backwards.”
Allen lost 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had 2.5 tackles for loss to lead the Texans. Another sack occurred when he nearly sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and the defender got up and pursued him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt in the third quarter.
Buffalo competed for a second straight game without wideout Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was earlier benched for the first series of a loss to New England in the fifth week after additionally being delayed for a meeting.
No change. We are taking it one day at a time,” McDermott said. “I felt he had a improved week, but we’re taking it one day at a time. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the guys that provide the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.
The quarterback was frustrated that the team couldn’t execute down the stretch.
In the end, we’ve got execute, and we didn’t succeed of that tonight,” he concluded. “Whatever scenario and any condition, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we came up short.”
