Little went right for Josh Allen in a disappointing game on Thursday evening versus the Houston Texans.
And still he nearly managed to driving the Bills to a victory before an late pick in the final minute ended their hopes in a 23-19 loss.
Allen endured back-to-back sacks on the Bills’ last drive, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (7-4) gained significant yardage on a quick throw from Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.
Following a false-start penalty led to a fourth down situation for Buffalo, Calen Bullock picked off Allen’s pass at the 9-yard line with under half a minute remaining.
We possessed a chance to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Allen stated. “Our team performed a good job of staying in it and our defense saved us a couple of times. We’ve got find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
Proved tough for the signal-caller to get anything going on a evening he was sacked a career-high on eight occasions and pressured four additional instances. Allen threw for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and zero scores after producing six touchdowns in a win over Tampa Bay the previous week.
Whenever they hit our QB 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It’s just not a safe way to compete and it’s not a good way to keep our field general healthy for the remaining games. We need to play better.”
Josh Allen was slow to get up after a sack in the first half. He said he was fine and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being contacted so frequently on Thursday.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I encountered a couple myself. I’ve got to be better at disposing of the football. Too many times, I found myself losing ground.”
Allen surrendered 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 tackles for loss to top the Houston defense. His second one came when he almost took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and the defender rose and pursued him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt early in the third.
Buffalo competed for a second straight game without wideout Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was late to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was earlier held out for the first series of a defeat to the Patriots in the fifth week after additionally being delayed for a meeting.
No change. We are taking it one day at a time,” the coach noted. “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 went with the players that provide the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir led the Buffalo with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.
Allen was frustrated that the team were unable to execute in crucial moments.
In the end, we must perform, and we didn’t succeed of that tonight,” he concluded. “Whatever situation and any circumstance, we need to find a way, and we didn’t.”
