Little went right for the Bills' quarterback in a frustrating game on Thursday evening versus the Texans.
And still he came close to willing the Bills to a victory before an interception in the final minute sealed their fate in a close defeat.
Allen endured consecutive sacks on the Bills’ last drive, leading to a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (7-4) gained 44 yards on a quick throw from Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.
Following a false-start penalty led to a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, Calen Bullock picked off the quarterback's throw at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds left.
We possessed a opportunity to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen stated. “We did a solid job of staying in it and our defensive unit bailed us out a couple of times. We must figure it out, and we didn’t.”
It was difficult for Allen to get anything going on a night he was sacked a personal-worst eight times and pressured four additional instances. The QB threw for 253 yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after producing six TDs in a win over Tampa Bay the previous week.
Whenever they pressure our quarterback a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It’s just not a safe way to compete and it’s not a smart way to preserve our quarterback healthy for the remaining games. We’ve got 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 “lost some feeling” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was asked about being contacted so frequently during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I ran into a few personally. I’ve got to be better at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I found myself losing ground.”
Allen surrendered 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Anderson had 2.5 sacks to top the Texans. His second one came when he nearly took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and Anderson rose and pursued him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt in the third quarter.
The Bills played for a second consecutive matchup without wideout Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was late to a squad gathering before their last game. He was previously benched for the first series of a defeat to the Patriots in Week 5 after also being late for a meeting.
“Nothing new. We’re just taking it day by day,” McDermott said. “I felt he had a improved week, but we are taking it step by step. It was not that it was ignored, but we opted for the guys that give us the best chance.”
Khalil Shakir led the Bills with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
Allen was frustrated that the team couldn’t make plays in crucial moments.
In the end, we must execute, and we failed to succeed of that tonight,” he concluded. “No matter the situation and whatever circumstance, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
