Very little clicked for Josh Allen in a tough contest on Thursday evening against the Houston Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to willing the Bills to a victory before an late pick in the last moments sealed their fate in a 23-19 loss.
Allen endured back-to-back tackles for loss on the team's final possession, leading to a long fourth down, but Buffalo (7-4) gained 44 yards on a quick throw from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a backward pass to another teammate.
Following a false-start penalty led to a fourth down situation for Buffalo, Calen Bullock intercepted Allen’s throw at the Houston 9 with under half a minute left.
We possessed a opportunity to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen said. “We did a good job of hanging tough and our defensive unit bailed us out a couple of times. We must find a way, and we didn’t.”
Proved difficult for Allen to establish rhythm on a night he was brought down a personal-worst eight times and hit four other times. The QB threw for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after producing six TDs in a win over Tampa Bay last week.
Whenever they hit our QB 12 times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “I disapprove of that statistic 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 play better.”
Josh Allen was slow to rise after a sack in the first half. He indicated he was OK and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being contacted so frequently on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I ran into a couple myself. I need to be more effective at disposing of the football. Too many times, I was going backwards.”
Allen surrendered 70 yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half sacks to lead the Texans. Another sack occurred when he almost sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and Anderson got up and pursued him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt early in the third.
Buffalo competed for a second consecutive matchup absent wideout Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was previously benched for the first series of a defeat to the Patriots in Week 5 after also being late for a team session.
“Nothing new. We’re just taking it one day at a time,” the coach said. “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 topped the Bills with eight receptions for 110 yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
The quarterback was frustrated that the team couldn’t make plays down the stretch.
In the end, we’ve got execute, and we failed to do a good job of that this evening,” he concluded. “Whatever scenario and any condition, we need to discover a solution, and we came up short.”
