Little went well for Josh Allen in a disappointing contest Thursday night against the Houston Texans.
And still he nearly managed to driving the Bills to a win before an late pick in the final minute ended their hopes in a close defeat.
Allen endured consecutive sacks on the Bills’ last drive, resulting in a long fourth down, but the Bills (7-4) gained significant yardage on a short pass from Allen to a receiver, who flipped a lateral to another teammate.
After a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth down situation for Buffalo, a Texans defender intercepted the quarterback's throw at the Houston 9 with under half a minute remaining.
“We had a chance to come out on top there at the end,” Allen said. “We did a good job of staying in it and our defense saved us a few instances. We must figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was difficult for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a night he was brought down a career-high eight times and pressured four additional instances. Allen threw for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after accounting for six touchdowns in a win over Tampa Bay last week.
Whenever they pressure our quarterback a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott commented. “I don’t like that stat at all. It is not a safe way to compete and it’s not a smart way to keep our quarterback in good shape for the rest of the season. We’ve got to play better.”
Allen was slow to get up after a sack in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was fine and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being contacted so many times during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I ran into a few personally. I need to be more effective at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I was going backwards.”
Allen lost 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half sacks to lead the Texans. Another sack came when he almost sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped 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 without receiver Keon Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was tardy to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was previously held out for the opening drive of a loss to the Patriots in Week 5 after additionally being delayed for a team session.
No change. We’re just approaching it day by day,” the coach noted. “I thought he had a improved week, but we’re taking it step by step. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the players that give us the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir led the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 yards and a score.
Allen was disappointed that the team were unable to execute in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we must perform, and we didn’t succeed of that this evening,” he concluded. “Whatever scenario and whatever circumstance, we need to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
