Little clicked for Josh Allen in a frustrating game on Thursday evening against the Houston Texans.
And still he came close to willing the Bills to a win before an late pick in the last moments ended their hopes in a 23-19 defeat.
The quarterback endured consecutive sacks on the team's final possession, leading to a long fourth down, but the Bills (7-4) picked up 44 yards on a short pass from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a lateral to another teammate.
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 24 seconds remaining.
We possessed a opportunity to come out on top there at the end,” Josh Allen stated. “Our team performed a solid job of staying in it and our defense saved us a couple of times. We’ve got find a way, and we didn’t.”
Proved difficult for Allen to establish rhythm on a evening he was sacked a career-high on eight occasions and pressured four additional instances. The QB passed for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and zero scores after accounting for six TDs in a win over the Buccaneers the previous week.
Whenever they pressure our quarterback 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott said. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It is not a safe way to play and it’s not a good way to keep our quarterback healthy for the rest of the season. We need to play better.”
Allen was sluggish to rise after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He said he was OK and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was asked about being hit so many times on Thursday.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I encountered a few myself. I’ve got to be better at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I was going backwards.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had two and a half tackles for loss to lead the Houston defense. Another sack occurred when he nearly took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and Anderson rose and chased him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt in the third quarter.
The Bills competed for a second consecutive matchup absent receiver Keon Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was previously held out for the opening drive of a loss to the Patriots in the fifth week after also being late for a meeting.
No change. We are taking it day by day,” McDermott said. “I thought he had a better week, but we are handling it step by step. It was not that it was ignored, but we opted for the players that provide the best chance.”
Shakir led the Bills with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.
The quarterback was frustrated that the team were unable to make plays down the stretch.
In the end, we’ve got perform, and we failed to do a good job of that tonight,” he said. “Whatever situation and whatever circumstance, we need to find a way, and we came up short.”
