Very little went well for the Bills' quarterback in a tough contest on Thursday evening against the Texans.
And still he nearly managed to willing the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an late pick in the last moments ended their hopes in a close defeat.
The quarterback took back-to-back sacks on the team's last drive, resulting in a long fourth down, but Buffalo (7-4) gained 44 yards on a quick throw from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a backward pass to another teammate.
Following a false-start penalty created a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, a Texans defender picked off Allen’s pass at the 9-yard line with under half a minute left.
“We had a chance to win it there at the conclusion,” Allen stated. “We did a solid job of hanging tough and our defense bailed us out a couple of times. We’ve got find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
Proved difficult for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a night he was brought down a personal-worst eight times and hit four other times. Allen threw for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after producing six TDs in a victory over the Buccaneers last week.
“When they pressure our QB 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach Sean McDermott commented. “I don’t like that stat at all. It is not a safe way to play and it’s not a smart way to preserve our field general healthy for the rest of the season. We’ve got to play better.”
Josh Allen was slow to get up after a sack in the opening two quarters. He said he was OK and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being hit so frequently on Thursday.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I ran into a few myself. I need to be more effective at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I found myself going backwards.”
Allen surrendered 70 yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half sacks to top the Houston defense. Another sack came when he almost took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and Anderson rose and chased him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt early in the third.
The Bills played for a second straight game without receiver Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their last game. He was earlier held out for the first series of a defeat to New England in the fifth week after additionally being late for a team session.
“Nothing new. We’re just taking it day by day,” McDermott noted. “I thought he had a better week, but we are handling it step by step. It was not that it was ignored, but we opted for the guys that provide the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
Allen was disappointed that the team were unable to execute down the stretch.
In the end, we’ve got perform, and we failed to succeed of that tonight,” he said. “No matter the scenario and whatever condition, we need to find a way, and we didn’t.”
