Very little went right for Josh Allen in a disappointing game Thursday night versus the Houston Texans.
And still he came close to driving the Bills to a win before an late pick in the last moments sealed their fate in a close loss.
The quarterback endured back-to-back sacks on the team's final possession, leading to a long fourth down, but the Bills (7-4) gained significant yardage on a quick throw from Josh Allen to a receiver, who flipped a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.
After a false-start penalty led to a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, Calen Bullock intercepted Allen’s throw at the 9-yard line with under half a minute remaining.
We possessed a chance to come out on top there at the end,” Allen said. “Our team performed a solid job of hanging tough and our defensive unit saved us a few instances. We must find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was difficult for the signal-caller to get anything going on a night he was brought down a personal-worst on eight occasions and hit four other times. Allen passed for 253 yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after producing six TDs in a victory over the Buccaneers the previous week.
“When they pressure our quarterback a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach McDermott said. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It’s just not a safe way to play and it isn't a good way to keep our quarterback in good shape for the rest of the season. We’ve got to improve our performance.”
Allen was slow to get up after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was OK and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being hit so frequently during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I ran into a few personally. I need to be more effective at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I was going backwards.”
Allen lost 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Anderson had two and a half tackles for loss to top the Texans. Another sack came when he almost took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and the defender rose and pursued him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt in the third quarter.
The Bills played for a second straight game absent receiver Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a team meeting before their last game. He was previously benched for the opening drive 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,” McDermott said. “I thought he had a improved week, but we are handling it one day at a time. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the players that provide the best chance.”
Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
The quarterback was frustrated that the team couldn’t execute down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we’ve got execute, and we failed to succeed of that tonight,” he said. “Whatever situation and any circumstance, we need to discover a solution, and we came up short.”
