Very little went right for the Bills' quarterback in a disappointing game on Thursday evening versus the Houston Texans.
And still he nearly managed to driving the Bills to a victory before an late pick in the final minute sealed their fate in a 23-19 loss.
Allen endured consecutive sacks on the Bills’ final possession, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (with seven wins) gained significant yardage on a quick throw from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a lateral to another teammate.
Following a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, Calen Bullock intercepted the quarterback's pass at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds left.
We possessed a chance to win it there at the end,” Josh Allen stated. “Our team performed a solid job of hanging tough and our defensive unit bailed us out a few instances. We’ve got figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”
Proved difficult for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a evening he was sacked a career-high on eight occasions and pressured four other times. Allen passed 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.
Whenever they pressure our QB 12 times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach McDermott commented. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It is not a healthy way to play and it isn't a smart way to keep our field general healthy for the remaining games. We need to play better.”
Allen was slow to rise after a tackle in the first half. He indicated he was OK and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was asked about being contacted so frequently during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I ran into a few personally. I need to be more effective at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I found myself going backwards.”
Allen lost 70 yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had two and a half sacks to top the Houston defense. His second one came when he almost took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and the defender rose and pursued him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt in the third quarter.
Buffalo competed for a second consecutive matchup absent receiver Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was late to a team meeting before their last game. He was earlier held out for the first series of a defeat to New England in Week 5 after additionally being delayed for a team session.
“Nothing new. We are approaching it day by day,” the coach noted. “I felt he had a improved week, but we’re taking it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we opted for the players that give us the optimal opportunity.”
Khalil Shakir led the Bills with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
Allen was frustrated that the Bills were unable to execute down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we must execute, and we failed to succeed of that this evening,” he said. “No matter the scenario and any circumstance, we’ve got to find a way, and we came up short.”
