Little went well for Josh Allen in a disappointing game on Thursday evening versus the Texans.
And still he nearly managed to willing the Buffalo Bills to a win before an interception in the final minute sealed their fate in a 23-19 loss.
Allen endured back-to-back tackles for loss on the team's final possession, resulting in a long fourth down, but Buffalo (7-4) gained 44 yards on a short pass from Josh Allen to a receiver, who flipped a lateral to Khalil Shakir.
After a pre-snap infraction created a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, Calen Bullock picked off the quarterback's pass at the 9-yard line with under half a minute remaining.
“We had a chance to win it there at the conclusion,” Allen said. “Our team performed a solid job of staying in it and our defense saved us a couple of times. We’ve got figure it out, and we didn’t.”
Proved tough for Allen to establish rhythm on a night he was sacked a career-high eight times and hit four additional instances. Allen passed for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and zero scores after producing six TDs in a win over Tampa Bay last week.
Whenever they hit our quarterback a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott said. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It’s just not a safe way to compete and it’s not a smart way to keep our field general in good shape for the rest of the season. We need to play better.”
Josh Allen was slow to get up after a sack in the opening two quarters. He said he was fine and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being hit so frequently during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I encountered a few myself. I’ve got to be more effective at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I found myself going backwards.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half sacks to lead the Houston defense. His second one came when he nearly sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and the defender got up and pursued him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt in the third quarter.
Buffalo played for a second straight game 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 first series of a loss to New England in the fifth week after additionally being late for a team session.
“Nothing new. We’re just approaching it one day at a time,” the coach noted. “I thought he had a better week, but we are taking 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 best chance.”
Khalil Shakir topped the Bills with eight catches for 110 yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
Allen was disappointed that the team were unable to execute down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we’ve got execute, and we didn’t succeed of that this evening,” he concluded. “Whatever scenario and any condition, we need to discover a solution, and we came up short.”
