Very little went right for the Bills' quarterback in a tough contest Thursday night against the Houston Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to driving the Bills to a victory before an interception in the final minute sealed their fate in a close defeat.
Allen took back-to-back sacks on the team's final possession, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (with seven wins) picked up significant yardage on a short pass from Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.
Following a false-start penalty led to a fourth down situation for the Bills, Calen Bullock picked off Allen’s throw at the Houston 9 with under half a minute left.
We possessed a opportunity to win it there at the end,” Josh Allen stated. “We did a solid job of hanging tough and our defense saved us a couple of times. We must find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
Proved tough for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a night he was sacked a career-high eight times and pressured four other times. Allen passed for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after producing six TDs in a victory over Tampa Bay the previous week.
“When they hit our QB a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that statistic 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 remaining games. We need to improve our performance.”
Josh Allen was sluggish to rise after a sack in the first half. He indicated he was OK and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being hit so frequently on Thursday.
“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I encountered a couple myself. I’ve got to be better at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I was losing ground.”
Allen surrendered 70 yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had two and a half tackles for loss to lead the Houston defense. Another sack came when he almost took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and Anderson rose and pursued him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt early in the third.
Buffalo competed for a second consecutive matchup without wideout Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was tardy to a squad gathering 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 late for a team session.
“Nothing new. We’re just taking it day by day,” the coach said. “I felt he had a improved week, but we are handling it one day at a time. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the guys that provide the best chance.”
Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight catches for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a score.
Allen was frustrated that the Bills couldn’t make plays in crucial moments.
In the end, we’ve got perform, and we didn’t succeed of that tonight,” he said. “No matter the situation and whatever condition, we need to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
