Little went well for the Bills' quarterback in a disappointing game on Thursday evening versus the Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to willing the Bills to a victory before an interception in the last moments ended their hopes in a close defeat.
The quarterback endured consecutive tackles for loss on the team's final possession, leading to a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (with seven wins) gained significant yardage on a short pass from Josh Allen to a receiver, who tossed a backward pass to another teammate.
Following a false-start penalty created a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, Calen Bullock picked off Allen’s throw at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds left.
We possessed a opportunity to come out on top there at the end,” Allen said. “Our team performed a solid job of staying in it and our defensive unit bailed us out a couple of times. We’ve got find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was tough for Allen to establish rhythm on a evening he was sacked a career-high eight times and pressured four other times. Allen threw for 253 yards with two interceptions and zero scores after producing six TDs in a win over Tampa Bay last week.
“When they hit our QB a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach Sean McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It is not a healthy way to compete and it’s not a good way to preserve our quarterback healthy for the remaining games. We need to improve our performance.”
Allen was slow to get up after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He said he was OK and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being contacted so frequently during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I ran into a couple myself. I’ve got to be better at disposing of the football. Too many times, I found myself going backwards.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half sacks to lead the Texans. His second one occurred when he almost took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and Anderson got up and pursued him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt early in the third.
The Bills competed for a second straight game absent receiver Keon Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was late to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was previously benched for the first series of a defeat to New England in Week 5 after additionally being late for a team session.
“Nothing new. We’re just taking it day by day,” McDermott said. “I felt he had a improved week, but we’re taking it step by step. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the players that give us the best chance.”
Khalil Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.
Allen was frustrated that the team couldn’t make plays down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we must execute, and we didn’t succeed of that tonight,” he concluded. “Whatever situation and any condition, we’ve got to find a way, and we came up short.”
