Very little clicked for Josh Allen in a tough game Thursday night against the Houston Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to willing the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an late pick in the last moments sealed their fate in a close loss.
The quarterback endured back-to-back tackles for loss on the team's last drive, resulting in a long fourth down, but the Bills (7-4) gained significant yardage on a quick throw from Josh Allen to a receiver, who tossed a backward pass to another teammate.
After a pre-snap infraction created a fourth down situation for Buffalo, Calen Bullock picked off the quarterback's throw at the Houston 9 with under half a minute remaining.
We possessed a opportunity to come out on top there at the end,” Allen said. “We did a solid job of hanging tough and our defensive unit saved us a few instances. We’ve got find a way, and we didn’t.”
Proved tough for the signal-caller to get anything going on a night he was sacked a career-high eight times and pressured four additional instances. The QB passed for 253 yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after producing six touchdowns in a victory over Tampa Bay the previous week.
Whenever they hit our quarterback a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott said. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It’s just not a safe way to compete and it isn't a smart way to preserve our quarterback healthy for the rest of the season. We’ve got to play better.”
Allen was sluggish to get up after a sack in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was OK and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being hit so many times on Thursday.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I ran into a couple myself. I’ve got to be better at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I was losing ground.”
Allen lost 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Anderson had 2.5 sacks to top the Houston defense. Another sack occurred when he nearly sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and the defender rose and pursued him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt early in the third.
The Bills played for a second consecutive matchup without receiver Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch 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 also being late for a meeting.
“Nothing new. We’re just approaching it one day at a time,” McDermott said. “I felt he had a better week, but we’re handling it step by step. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the guys that give us the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir topped the Bills with eight receptions for 110 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 must perform, and we didn’t do a good job of that this evening,” he concluded. “Whatever scenario and any circumstance, we’ve got to find a way, and we came up short.”
