Little went right for Josh Allen in a frustrating contest Thursday night against the Texans.
And still he nearly managed to driving the Bills to a victory before an late pick in the last moments sealed their fate in a 23-19 defeat.
Allen endured back-to-back tackles for loss on the team's final possession, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (7-4) gained significant yardage on a short pass from Allen to a receiver, who tossed a lateral to Khalil Shakir.
After a false-start penalty led to a fourth down situation for the Bills, Calen Bullock intercepted the quarterback's pass at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds remaining.
We possessed a opportunity to come out on top there at the end,” Allen stated. “We did a good job of staying in it and our defensive unit saved us a couple of times. We’ve got find a way, and we didn’t.”
Proved tough for Allen to establish rhythm on a evening he was brought down a career-high eight times and pressured four additional instances. Allen threw for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after producing six TDs in a win over the Buccaneers last week.
“When they hit our QB a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott commented. “I don’t like that stat at all. It is not a healthy way to play and it isn't a smart way to preserve our field general in good shape for the remaining games. We need to improve our performance.”
Josh Allen was slow to get up after a tackle in the first half. He indicated he was OK and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being contacted so frequently on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I encountered a couple myself. I need to be more effective at disposing of the football. Too many times, I was losing ground.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had two and a half tackles for loss to top the Houston defense. His second one came when he almost took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and the defender got up and chased him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt in the third quarter.
The Bills competed for a second consecutive matchup without wideout Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their last game. He was previously held out for the first series of a loss to the Patriots in the fifth week after also being late for a team session.
No change. We’re just approaching it one day at a time,” the coach said. “I thought he had a better week, but we are handling it step by step. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the guys that provide the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir led the Bills with eight receptions for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.
The quarterback was disappointed that the Bills were unable to make plays down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we must perform, and we didn’t succeed of that this evening,” he concluded. “No matter the situation and any condition, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”
