Little went well for Josh Allen in a tough game Thursday night versus the Houston Texans.
And still he nearly managed to willing the Bills to a victory before an interception in the last moments ended their hopes in a 23-19 loss.
Allen endured consecutive tackles for loss on the team's final possession, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (7-4) picked up 44 yards on a short pass from Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a lateral to Khalil Shakir.
After a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth down situation for Buffalo, a Texans defender picked off the quarterback's pass at the 9-yard line with under half a minute left.
We possessed a opportunity to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Allen said. “We did a good 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 difficult for Allen to establish rhythm on a evening he was brought down a career-high eight times and hit four additional instances. Allen threw for 253 yards with two interceptions and zero scores after accounting for six TDs in a win over the Buccaneers the previous week.
Whenever they hit our quarterback a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It is not a safe way to play and it’s not a smart way to preserve our quarterback in good shape for the rest of the season. We need to improve our performance.”
Allen was slow to rise after a sack in the first half. He said he was fine and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was asked about being hit so frequently on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I encountered a few myself. I need to be more effective at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I was going backwards.”
The Bills' QB surrendered 70 yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 tackles for loss to lead the Houston defense. His second one came when he nearly took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and Anderson rose and pursued him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt in the third quarter.
Buffalo competed for a second consecutive matchup absent wideout Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was previously held out for the first series of a defeat to New England in the fifth week after additionally being delayed for a team session.
No change. We are taking it day by day,” the coach noted. “I thought he had a improved week, but we are handling it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the players that give us the optimal opportunity.”
Khalil Shakir led the Bills with eight catches for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
The quarterback was frustrated that the team were unable to make plays in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we must perform, and we failed to succeed of that this evening,” he said. “No matter the scenario and any circumstance, we need to find a way, and we didn’t.”
