Little went well for the Bills' quarterback in a tough game on Thursday evening versus the Houston Texans.
Yet he came close to driving the Bills to a victory before an late pick in the final minute sealed their fate in a 23-19 loss.
Allen took back-to-back tackles for loss on the Bills’ final possession, leading to a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (with seven wins) picked up 44 yards on a quick throw from Allen to a receiver, who flipped a lateral to Khalil Shakir.
Following a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth down situation for Buffalo, a Texans defender picked off Allen’s pass at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds remaining.
“We had a chance to win it there at the end,” Allen stated. “Our team performed a good job of staying in it and our defense bailed us out a few instances. We’ve got find a way, and we didn’t.”
Proved tough for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a night he was sacked a career-high eight times and hit four additional instances. Allen passed for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after producing six touchdowns in a victory over Tampa Bay the previous week.
“When they hit our quarterback 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It is not a healthy way to play and it isn't a smart way to keep our field general healthy for the rest of the season. We’ve got to improve our performance.”
Josh Allen was slow to get up after a sack in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was OK 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 on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I ran into a couple myself. I need to be more effective at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I was going backwards.”
The Bills' QB 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 took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and the defender rose and pursued him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt early in the third.
Buffalo played for a second consecutive matchup without wideout Keon Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was late to a team meeting before their last game. He was previously benched for the first series of a loss to New England in Week 5 after additionally being late for a meeting.
“Nothing new. We’re just approaching it one day at a time,” the coach said. “I felt he had a better week, but we’re taking it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the guys that give us the optimal opportunity.”
Khalil Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
The quarterback was disappointed that the team couldn’t execute down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we must execute, and we failed to succeed of that this evening,” he concluded. “No matter the situation and whatever circumstance, we need to find a way, and we came up short.”
