Very little went well for Josh Allen in a disappointing game on Thursday evening versus the Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to willing the Buffalo Bills to a win before an interception in the final minute sealed their fate in a close defeat.
The quarterback took consecutive sacks on the team's last drive, leading to a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (with seven wins) gained significant yardage on a quick throw from Josh Allen to a receiver, who flipped a lateral to another teammate.
After a false-start penalty led to a fourth down situation for the Bills, Calen Bullock intercepted the quarterback's throw at the Houston 9 with under half a minute remaining.
We possessed a chance to win it there at the end,” Allen stated. “Our team performed a solid job of hanging tough and our defense saved us a few instances. We’ve got find a way, and we didn’t.”
It was tough for Allen to establish rhythm on a evening he was sacked a personal-worst eight times and hit four additional instances. The QB passed for 253 yards with two interceptions and zero scores after producing six TDs in a win over the Buccaneers last week.
Whenever they pressure our quarterback 12 times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott said. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It is not a healthy way to compete and it’s not a good way to preserve our quarterback in good shape for the rest of the season. We need to play better.”
Josh Allen was sluggish to get up after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He said he was OK and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was asked about being contacted so many times on Thursday.
“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I encountered a couple myself. I’ve got to be better at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I was going backwards.”
Allen surrendered 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half sacks to top the Texans. Another sack came when he nearly sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and Anderson rose and chased him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt in the third quarter.
The Bills competed for a second straight game absent wideout Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was late to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was previously held out for the opening drive of a loss to the Patriots in Week 5 after also being late for a meeting.
“Nothing new. We are taking it one day at a time,” McDermott said. “I thought he had a improved week, but we’re handling it step by step. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we went with the players that provide the optimal opportunity.”
Khalil Shakir topped the Bills with eight receptions for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.
The quarterback was frustrated that the Bills were unable to execute down the stretch.
In the end, we must perform, and we didn’t do a good job of that tonight,” he concluded. “No matter the situation and any condition, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we came up short.”
