Little went well for Josh Allen in a tough game Thursday night versus the Houston Texans.
And still he came close to driving the Buffalo Bills to a win before an interception in the last moments sealed their fate in a close loss.
Allen endured consecutive tackles for loss on the team's final possession, leading to a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (with seven wins) gained significant yardage on a short pass from Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a lateral to another teammate.
Following a false-start penalty led to a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, Calen Bullock intercepted Allen’s pass at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds remaining.
We possessed a opportunity to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Allen said. “Our team performed a good job of hanging tough and our defensive unit bailed us out a couple of times. We must find a way, and we didn’t.”
It was difficult for Allen to establish rhythm on a night he was brought down a personal-worst eight times and pressured four other times. The QB threw for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after accounting for six TDs in a win over the Buccaneers the previous week.
“When they hit our QB 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach McDermott said. “I don’t like that stat at all. It’s just not a safe way to compete and it isn't a smart way to keep our field general in good shape for the rest of the season. We’ve got to play better.”
Josh Allen was slow to rise after a sack in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was OK and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was asked about being hit so many times on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I encountered a few myself. I’ve got to be better at disposing of the football. Too many times, I found myself going backwards.”
The Bills' QB surrendered 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half tackles for loss to lead the Houston defense. Another sack occurred when he nearly sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and the defender got up and chased him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt in the third quarter.
The Bills competed for a second consecutive matchup without wideout Keon Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was late to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was earlier benched for the opening drive of a defeat to New England in the fifth week after additionally being late for a team session.
No change. We’re just taking it day by day,” the coach noted. “I thought he had a better week, but we are taking it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we opted for the players that give us the best chance.”
Khalil Shakir led the Bills with eight catches for 110 yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
The quarterback was frustrated that the Bills were unable to execute down the stretch.
In the end, we must perform, and we didn’t succeed of that this evening,” he concluded. “Whatever situation and whatever circumstance, we need to find a way, and we didn’t.”
