Little went well for the Bills' quarterback in a tough contest on Thursday evening against the Texans.
Yet he came close to driving the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an late pick in the final minute sealed their fate in a close defeat.
Allen took back-to-back sacks on the Bills’ final possession, leading to a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (with seven wins) picked up significant yardage on a short pass from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a lateral to Khalil Shakir.
After a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, a Texans defender picked off the quarterback's throw at the Houston 9 with under half a minute left.
We possessed a opportunity to win it there at the conclusion,” Allen stated. “Our team performed a good job of hanging tough and our defensive unit bailed us out a few instances. We’ve got find a way, and we didn’t.”
It was tough for Allen to establish rhythm on a evening he was brought down a career-high on eight occasions and hit four additional instances. Allen threw for 253 yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after accounting for six touchdowns in a win over Tampa Bay the previous week.
“When they pressure our QB 12 times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott commented. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It’s just not a healthy way to play and it’s not a good way to keep our field general in good shape for the remaining games. We’ve got to improve our performance.”
Josh Allen was sluggish to rise after a sack in the opening two quarters. He said he was OK and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being hit so frequently on Thursday.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I encountered a few personally. I need to be more effective at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I was losing ground.”
Allen lost 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had 2.5 tackles for loss to lead the Houston defense. Another sack came when he nearly took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and Anderson rose and pursued him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt early in the third.
Buffalo played for a second straight game absent receiver Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was previously benched for the first series of a loss to New England in Week 5 after also being delayed for a team session.
“Nothing new. We’re just taking it one day at a time,” the coach noted. “I felt 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 opted for the guys that give us the optimal opportunity.”
Khalil Shakir led the Bills with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a score.
The quarterback was frustrated that the team were unable to execute down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we’ve got perform, and we failed to succeed of that tonight,” he concluded. “No matter the scenario and any circumstance, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”
