Very little went right for the Bills' quarterback in a disappointing game Thursday night versus the Houston Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to driving the Buffalo Bills to a win before an interception in the last moments ended their hopes in a 23-19 loss.
The quarterback endured consecutive sacks on the Bills’ final possession, leading to a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (with seven wins) picked up 44 yards on a short pass from Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a backward pass to another teammate.
Following a pre-snap infraction created a fourth down situation for the Bills, a Texans defender picked off the quarterback's throw at the Houston 9 with under half a minute left.
We possessed a chance to win it there at the end,” Josh Allen said. “Our team performed a good job of staying in it 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 establish rhythm on a evening he was brought down a career-high on eight occasions and pressured four additional instances. The QB threw for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after accounting for six touchdowns in a win over Tampa Bay last week.
Whenever they pressure our QB 12 times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It is not a healthy way to play and it isn't a smart way to keep our field general healthy for the rest of the season. We need to improve our performance.”
Allen was slow to rise after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He said he was OK and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was asked about being contacted so frequently during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I ran into a few myself. I need to be better at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I found myself losing ground.”
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 nearly took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and Anderson rose and pursued him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt in the third quarter.
Buffalo played for a second straight game absent receiver Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was late to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was earlier held out for the opening drive of a loss to the Patriots in Week 5 after additionally being delayed for a meeting.
“Nothing new. We’re just taking it one day at a time,” the coach noted. “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 opted for the players that provide the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir led the Bills with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.
The quarterback was disappointed that the team were unable to make plays in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we must perform, and we failed to succeed of that tonight,” he said. “No matter the scenario and whatever condition, we need to find a way, and we didn’t.”
