Little went well for Josh Allen in a frustrating game Thursday night versus the Houston Texans.
And still he nearly managed to willing the Bills to a win before an interception in the last moments sealed their fate in a 23-19 loss.
The quarterback endured consecutive tackles for loss on the team's last drive, resulting in a long fourth down, but the Bills (7-4) picked up 44 yards on a quick throw from Josh Allen to a receiver, who flipped a backward pass to another teammate.
After a pre-snap infraction created a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, a Texans defender picked off Allen’s pass at the Houston 9 with under half a minute left.
We possessed a opportunity to win it there at the end,” Josh Allen said. “We did a solid job of staying in it and our defense saved us a few instances. We must find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
Proved difficult for Allen to get anything going on a night he was sacked a personal-worst on eight occasions and hit four additional instances. Allen passed for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and zero scores after accounting for six TDs in a victory over Tampa Bay the previous week.
“When they hit our QB a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott commented. “I don’t like that stat at all. It’s just not a safe way to play and it’s not a good way to keep our field general healthy for the rest of the season. We’ve got to improve our performance.”
Allen was sluggish to rise after a sack in the first half. He said he was fine and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being contacted so many times during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I ran into a few myself. I need to be better at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I found myself going backwards.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Anderson had 2.5 tackles for loss to top the Houston defense. His second one came when he almost took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away 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.
Buffalo played for a second consecutive matchup absent wideout Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their last game. He was previously benched for the first series of a defeat to New England in Week 5 after additionally being delayed for a team session.
“Nothing new. We’re just approaching it day by day,” McDermott said. “I thought he had a better week, but we are taking it one day at a time. It was not that it was ignored, but we went with the players that provide the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir led the Bills with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
Allen was frustrated that the Bills couldn’t make plays in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we must perform, and we failed to do a good job of that tonight,” he said. “No matter the situation and whatever condition, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we came up short.”
