Little went right for the Bills' quarterback in a frustrating contest on Thursday evening against the Texans.
Yet he came close to driving the Buffalo Bills to a win before an late pick in the last moments ended their hopes in a 23-19 defeat.
The quarterback took consecutive tackles for loss on the Bills’ final possession, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (7-4) gained significant yardage on a quick throw from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a backward pass to another teammate.
After a false-start penalty created a fourth down situation for Buffalo, a Texans defender picked off Allen’s throw at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds remaining.
“We had a opportunity to come out on top there at the end,” Allen stated. “We did a good 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 difficult for the signal-caller to get anything going on a evening he was brought down a personal-worst on eight occasions and hit four additional instances. Allen passed for 253 yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after accounting for six touchdowns in a win over the Buccaneers last week.
“When they pressure our QB 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott commented. “I don’t like that stat at all. It’s just not a healthy way to compete and it’s not a smart way to keep our quarterback healthy for the remaining games. We need to play better.”
Allen was sluggish to rise after a sack in the first half. He indicated he was fine and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being contacted so frequently on Thursday.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I encountered a few personally. I’ve got to be better at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I was going backwards.”
The Bills' QB surrendered 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 tackles for loss to lead the Texans. Another sack came when he nearly sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and Anderson rose and chased him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt in the third quarter.
The Bills competed for a second straight game without receiver Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was previously held out for the opening drive of a defeat to New England in Week 5 after additionally being late for a meeting.
No change. We’re just approaching it one day at a time,” McDermott noted. “I thought he had a improved week, but we’re taking it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we opted for the guys that give us the best chance.”
Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 yards and a score.
Allen was frustrated that the team couldn’t make plays in crucial moments.
In the end, we must execute, and we didn’t succeed of that this evening,” he concluded. “No matter the scenario and any condition, we need to find a way, and we came up short.”