Very little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a disappointing game on Thursday evening against the Texans.
And still he came close to driving the Bills to a victory before an interception in the last moments sealed their fate in a close defeat.
The quarterback endured consecutive sacks on the team's final possession, leading to a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (with seven wins) gained 44 yards on a short pass from Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.
Following a false-start penalty created a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, Calen Bullock picked off Allen’s pass at the 9-yard line with under half a minute left.
“We had a chance to come out on top there at the end,” Josh Allen stated. “We did a good job of hanging tough and our defense bailed us out a couple of times. We’ve got find a way, and we didn’t.”
It was difficult for Allen to establish rhythm on a night he was brought down a career-high eight times and hit four other times. Allen threw for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after accounting for six TDs in a victory over the Buccaneers the previous week.
Whenever they pressure our QB a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach McDermott said. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It’s just not a safe way to compete and it’s not a smart way to preserve our field general in good shape for the remaining games. We need to play better.”
Allen was sluggish to get up after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was OK and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was asked about being contacted so frequently during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I encountered a few personally. I’ve got to be better at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I was going backwards.”
Allen surrendered 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 tackles for loss to top the Houston defense. Another sack came when he nearly took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and Anderson rose and chased him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt in the third quarter.
Buffalo played for a second consecutive matchup absent wideout Keon Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was tardy to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was previously benched for the first series of a loss to New England in Week 5 after additionally being late for a team session.
No change. We’re just taking it one day at a time,” the coach said. “I thought he had a improved week, but we are taking it step by step. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we opted for the guys that give us the best chance.”
Khalil Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 yards and Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.
The quarterback was frustrated that the Bills were unable to execute in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we’ve got perform, and we failed to succeed of that tonight,” he concluded. “No matter the situation and any condition, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”
