Little went well for Josh Allen in a frustrating game Thursday night against the Houston Texans.
And still he nearly managed to driving the Bills to a victory before an interception in the final minute sealed their fate in a 23-19 defeat.
Allen took back-to-back tackles for loss on the team's last drive, resulting in a long fourth down, but Buffalo (7-4) picked up significant yardage on a short pass from Josh Allen to a receiver, who tossed a backward pass to another teammate.
After a false-start penalty led to a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, a Texans defender picked off the quarterback's throw at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds left.
We possessed a opportunity to win it there at the end,” Allen said. “We did a good job of hanging tough and our defensive unit bailed us out a couple of times. We must find a way, and we didn’t.”
Proved tough for Allen to establish rhythm on a night he was brought down a personal-worst eight times and hit four additional instances. The QB passed for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after producing six TDs in a win over the Buccaneers last week.
Whenever they pressure our quarterback 12 times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach McDermott said. “I don’t like that stat at all. It’s just not a safe way to compete and it’s not a good way to keep our quarterback in good shape for the remaining games. We’ve got to play better.”
Allen was sluggish to get up after a sack in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was fine and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being contacted so frequently during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I encountered a couple myself. I’ve got to be more effective at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I found myself losing ground.”
The Bills' QB surrendered 70 yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had 2.5 sacks to lead the Houston defense. His second one occurred when he almost sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, 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.
Buffalo competed for a second straight game absent wideout Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was earlier held out for the opening drive of a loss to New England in Week 5 after also being delayed for a meeting.
“Nothing new. We are taking it day by day,” McDermott noted. “I felt he had a improved week, but we’re handling it step by step. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the guys that give us the optimal opportunity.”
Khalil Shakir led the Bills with eight receptions for 110 yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
Allen was disappointed that the team were unable to execute in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we’ve got execute, and we didn’t do a good job of that this evening,” he concluded. “Whatever situation and any condition, we need to find a way, and we didn’t.”
