Little went well for Josh Allen in a frustrating game on Thursday evening versus the Houston Texans.
Yet he came close to willing the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an late pick in the last moments ended their hopes in a 23-19 defeat.
The quarterback endured back-to-back sacks on the Bills’ last drive, leading to 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 false-start penalty created a fourth down situation for Buffalo, a Texans defender picked off Allen’s throw at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds remaining.
“We had a opportunity to win it there at the end,” Josh Allen stated. “We did a good job of staying in it and our defense saved us a few instances. We’ve got find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was tough for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a night he was brought down a personal-worst eight times and hit four additional instances. The QB threw for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and zero scores after accounting for six TDs in a win over Tampa Bay last week.
Whenever they pressure our quarterback 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach Sean McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It’s just not a healthy way to compete and it isn't a good way to preserve our field general healthy for the rest of the season. We need to improve our performance.”
Josh Allen was sluggish to get up after a tackle in the first half. He indicated he was fine and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being hit so frequently on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I encountered a few myself. I’ve got to be better at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I found myself going backwards.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 sacks to top the Texans. His second one came when he nearly sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and Anderson rose and pursued him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt in the third quarter.
Buffalo competed for a second consecutive matchup absent wideout Coleman after he was again a non-participant 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 the Patriots in the fifth week after also being delayed for a team session.
“Nothing new. We’re just taking it day by day,” the coach noted. “I thought 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 guys that provide the best chance.”
Shakir topped the Bills with eight catches for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a score.
Allen was disappointed that the team were unable to execute in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we must execute, and we didn’t do a good job of that this evening,” he concluded. “Whatever scenario and any condition, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”
