Very little went well for the Bills' quarterback in a frustrating contest Thursday night against the Houston Texans.
And still he came close to willing the Bills to a win before an late pick in the final minute ended their hopes in a 23-19 loss.
The quarterback took back-to-back sacks on the Bills’ final possession, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (7-4) gained 44 yards on a quick throw from Josh Allen to a receiver, who tossed a lateral to another teammate.
After a false-start penalty led to a fourth down situation for Buffalo, a Texans defender 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 conclusion,” Allen said. “We did a solid job of hanging tough and our defense bailed us out a couple of times. We’ve got figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was tough for the signal-caller to get anything going on a night he was brought down a personal-worst eight times and hit four additional instances. Allen passed for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and zero scores after producing six TDs in a victory over the Buccaneers the previous week.
Whenever they pressure our quarterback 12 times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott said. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It is not a safe way to compete and it isn't a smart way to keep our quarterback healthy for the rest of the season. We need to play better.”
Allen was sluggish to get up after a sack in the first half. He indicated he was OK and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being contacted so frequently during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I ran into a couple myself. I’ve got to be better at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I was losing ground.”
Allen lost 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 tackles for loss to top the Texans. His second one occurred when he almost sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and Anderson rose and pursued him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt early in the third.
Buffalo competed for a second consecutive matchup absent receiver Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was late to a squad gathering before their last game. He was previously held out for the first series of a defeat to New England in the fifth week after additionally being late for a meeting.
No change. We’re just approaching it day by day,” McDermott noted. “I thought he had a improved week, but we’re taking it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the guys that give us the best chance.”
Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.
Allen was frustrated that the team couldn’t execute in crucial moments.
In the end, we must perform, and we failed to succeed of that tonight,” he said. “Whatever situation and any circumstance, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we came up short.”
