Very little clicked for Josh Allen in a frustrating contest Thursday night versus the Texans.
And still he came close to willing the Bills to a victory before an late pick in the last moments sealed their fate in a 23-19 defeat.
The quarterback took consecutive sacks on the team's last drive, resulting in a long fourth down, but the Bills (with seven wins) picked up significant yardage on a quick throw from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.
After a false-start penalty led to a fourth down situation for Buffalo, Calen Bullock intercepted the quarterback's pass at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds left.
We possessed a opportunity to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Allen stated. “Our team performed a good job of hanging tough and our defensive unit saved us a few instances. We must find a way, and we didn’t.”
It was tough for Allen to get anything going on a night he was sacked a personal-worst on eight occasions and hit four additional instances. The QB threw for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after producing six TDs in a win over Tampa Bay the previous week.
Whenever they hit our QB 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach McDermott commented. “I don’t like that stat at all. It is not a healthy way to compete and it isn't a good way to preserve our quarterback healthy for the remaining games. We’ve got to play better.”
Josh Allen was sluggish to rise after a tackle in the first half. He said he was fine and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being contacted so many times on Thursday.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I encountered a few personally. I need to be more effective at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I found myself losing ground.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half sacks 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 chased him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt early in the third.
Buffalo played for a second straight game absent wideout Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was late to a squad gathering before their last game. He was earlier held out for the opening drive of a defeat to the Patriots in the fifth week after additionally being late for a meeting.
No change. We are taking it one day at a time,” the coach noted. “I felt he had a better 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 best chance.”
Shakir topped the Bills with eight catches for 110 yards and Cook had 116 yards and a score.
Allen was disappointed that the team couldn’t make plays down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we must execute, and we failed to do a good job of that tonight,” he concluded. “Whatever situation and any condition, we need to discover a solution, and we came up short.”
