Very little clicked for Josh Allen in a disappointing contest on Thursday evening against the Texans.
And still he nearly managed 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 sacks on the team's final possession, leading to a long fourth down, but the Bills (with seven wins) gained significant yardage on a short pass from Allen to a receiver, who flipped a lateral to Khalil Shakir.
Following a pre-snap infraction created a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, Calen Bullock picked off Allen’s pass at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds left.
“We had a chance to win it there at the end,” Josh Allen said. “Our team performed a solid job of staying in it and our defensive unit bailed us out a few instances. We’ve got figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was tough for Allen to establish rhythm on a night he was brought down a career-high eight times and pressured four other times. Allen threw for 253 yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after producing six TDs in a victory over the Buccaneers last week.
Whenever they pressure our QB 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott said. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It’s just not a healthy way to play and it isn't a smart way to preserve our field general healthy for the rest of the season. We’ve got to play better.”
Josh Allen was slow to get up after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was OK and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being hit so frequently on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I ran into a few personally. I need to be more effective at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I found myself losing ground.”
The Bills' QB surrendered 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half tackles for loss to lead the Houston defense. His second one occurred when he almost took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and Anderson rose and chased him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt early in the third.
Buffalo competed for a second consecutive matchup absent wideout Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their last game. He was previously held out for the opening drive of a defeat to New England in the fifth week after also being late for a team session.
“Nothing new. We are taking it day by day,” the coach noted. “I felt he had a improved week, but we’re handling it step by step. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we went with the guys that give us the best chance.”
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 were unable to make plays in crucial moments.
In the end, we’ve got execute, and we didn’t do a good job of that this evening,” he concluded. “Whatever situation and any condition, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”
