Very little went right for Josh Allen in a tough contest on Thursday evening versus the Houston Texans.
Yet he came close to willing the Bills to a win before an interception in the last moments ended their hopes in a close defeat.
The quarterback took back-to-back tackles for loss on the Bills’ last drive, leading to a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (with seven wins) gained 44 yards on a quick throw from Josh Allen to a receiver, who flipped a backward pass to another teammate.
Following a false-start penalty led to a fourth down situation for the Bills, a Texans defender picked off the quarterback's pass at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds remaining.
We possessed a chance to come out on top there at the end,” Allen said. “We did a solid job of hanging tough and our defense saved us a couple of times. We must figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was difficult for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a night he was brought down a personal-worst on eight occasions and pressured four additional instances. The QB passed for 253 yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after producing six TDs in a win over the Buccaneers the previous week.
“When they hit our QB 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott said. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It is not a safe way to play and it isn't a smart way to keep our quarterback healthy for the rest of the season. We need to improve our performance.”
Allen was slow to rise after a tackle in the first half. He said he was fine and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being hit so many times during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I ran into a few personally. I need to be more effective at disposing of the football. Too many times, I was going backwards.”
Allen surrendered 70 yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had two and a half sacks to top the Houston defense. His second one occurred when he almost sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and the defender rose and chased him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt early in the third.
The Bills played for a second straight game without wideout Keon Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was late to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was earlier benched for the first series of a loss to the Patriots in Week 5 after also being delayed for a meeting.
“Nothing new. We’re just taking it day by day,” the coach said. “I felt he had a better week, but we are taking it step by step. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the guys that provide the best chance.”
Shakir led the Buffalo with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
Allen was disappointed that the Bills were unable to execute in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we’ve got perform, and we failed to succeed of that this evening,” he said. “Whatever situation and any condition, we’ve got to find a way, and we came up short.”
