Little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a tough contest on Thursday evening versus the Texans.
And still he nearly managed to willing the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an interception in the final minute sealed their fate in a close defeat.
Allen endured back-to-back tackles for loss on the Bills’ final possession, resulting in a long fourth down, but Buffalo (with seven wins) gained significant yardage on a quick throw from Allen to a receiver, who flipped a lateral to Khalil Shakir.
Following a false-start penalty created a fourth down situation for Buffalo, a Texans defender intercepted the quarterback's pass at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds left.
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 few instances. We’ve got figure it out, and we didn’t.”
Proved difficult for Allen to establish rhythm on a evening he was brought down a career-high eight times and pressured four other times. Allen passed for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after producing six touchdowns in a victory over Tampa Bay last week.
“When they pressure our QB 12 times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It is not a healthy way to compete and it’s not a smart way to preserve our field general healthy for the rest of the season. We need to play better.”
Josh Allen was sluggish to get up after a tackle in the first half. He indicated he was OK and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being hit so many times during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I ran into a few personally. I need to be more effective at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I found myself losing ground.”
Allen lost 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Anderson had two and a half tackles for loss to lead the Texans. Another sack came when he nearly took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and the defender got up and pursued him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt early in the third.
Buffalo played for a second consecutive matchup absent receiver Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their last game. He was previously benched for the opening drive of a loss to New England in the fifth week after also being delayed for a team session.
“Nothing new. We’re just taking it day by day,” McDermott said. “I thought he had a better week, but we’re handling it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we went with the players that provide the best chance.”
Shakir led the Bills with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
Allen was frustrated that the Bills couldn’t make plays in crucial moments.
In the end, we must execute, and we didn’t succeed of that tonight,” he said. “No matter the scenario and whatever circumstance, we need to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
