Little went well for Josh Allen in a disappointing game Thursday night versus the Texans.
Yet he came close to driving the Bills to a victory before an late pick in the last moments ended their hopes in a close defeat.
Allen took consecutive sacks on the team's final possession, leading to a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (with seven wins) gained 44 yards on a quick throw from Allen to a receiver, who flipped a backward pass to another teammate.
Following a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth down situation for the Bills, Calen Bullock intercepted the quarterback's pass at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds left.
“We had a chance to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Allen said. “We did a good job of staying in it and our defense bailed us out a couple of times. We must figure it out, and we didn’t.”
Proved difficult for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a night he was brought down a personal-worst eight times and pressured four additional instances. Allen passed for 253 yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after accounting for six touchdowns in a win over the Buccaneers last week.
Whenever they pressure our quarterback a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It’s just not a safe way to compete and it isn't a good way to keep our field general in good shape for the remaining games. We’ve got to improve our performance.”
Allen was slow to get up after a sack in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was fine and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being contacted so frequently on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I ran into a couple myself. I’ve got to be more effective at disposing of the football. Too many times, I was losing ground.”
The Bills' QB surrendered 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 tackles for loss to lead the Houston defense. Another sack occurred when he nearly took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and Anderson rose and chased him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt early in the third.
Buffalo played for a second straight game without wideout Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was late to a team meeting before their last game. He was previously held out for the opening drive of a loss to New England in Week 5 after also being delayed for a meeting.
No change. We are taking it one day at a time,” the coach noted. “I felt he had a better week, but we are handling it step by step. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we opted for the guys that provide 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 disappointed that the team were unable to execute down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we must perform, and we didn’t succeed of that this evening,” he said. “No matter the scenario and any condition, we need to find a way, and we didn’t.”
