Little went well for Josh Allen in a tough game on Thursday evening against the Houston Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to driving the Bills to a win before an late pick in the final minute sealed their fate in a close defeat.
The quarterback endured consecutive tackles for loss on the team's final possession, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (7-4) picked up significant yardage on a quick throw from Allen to a receiver, who tossed a lateral to Khalil Shakir.
After a false-start penalty led to a fourth down situation for the Bills, Calen Bullock picked off the quarterback's throw at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds left.
We possessed a chance to come out on top there at the end,” Allen said. “Our team performed a good job of hanging tough and our defensive unit bailed us out a couple of times. We’ve got find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
Proved difficult for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a evening he was brought down a personal-worst on eight occasions and hit four other times. The QB passed for 253 yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after accounting for six TDs in a victory over Tampa Bay last week.
Whenever they pressure our quarterback 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “I don’t like that stat at all. It is not a safe way to play and it’s not a smart way to keep our field general in good shape for the rest of the season. We need to improve our performance.”
Allen was slow to get up after a sack in the opening two quarters. He said he was fine and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being hit so frequently on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I encountered a few personally. I’ve got to be more effective at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I was losing ground.”
The Bills' QB surrendered 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 sacks to lead the Houston defense. His second one came when he almost took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and Anderson got up and chased him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt early in the third.
Buffalo competed for a second straight game absent receiver Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was late to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was previously benched for the opening drive of a defeat to New England in Week 5 after also being late for a meeting.
No change. We are taking it one day at a time,” the coach said. “I felt he had a better week, but we are taking it step by step. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we opted for the players that provide the best chance.”
Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.
Allen was disappointed that the Bills couldn’t make plays down the stretch.
In the end, we must execute, and we failed to succeed of that tonight,” he said. “Whatever scenario and any circumstance, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we came up short.”
