Little went right for Josh Allen in a tough game on Thursday evening versus the Houston Texans.
And still he nearly managed to willing the Buffalo Bills to a win before an late pick in the last moments ended their hopes in a close loss.
The quarterback took back-to-back sacks on the Bills’ last drive, leading to a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (with seven wins) gained 44 yards on a short pass from Allen to a receiver, who flipped a lateral to another teammate.
Following a false-start penalty created a fourth down situation for the Bills, a Texans defender intercepted Allen’s throw at the Houston 9 with under half a minute remaining.
“We had a opportunity to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen stated. “We did a good job of hanging tough and our defensive unit saved us a couple of times. We must find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
Proved difficult for Allen to establish rhythm on a evening he was brought down a personal-worst on eight occasions and hit four additional instances. Allen passed for 253 yards with two interceptions and zero scores after producing six TDs in a win over the Buccaneers last 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 is not a healthy way to play and it isn't a good way to preserve our quarterback healthy for the remaining games. We’ve got to play better.”
Allen was sluggish to rise 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 awkwardly. He was asked about being contacted so many times on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I ran into a few personally. I need to be more effective at disposing of the football. Too many times, I was going backwards.”
Allen surrendered 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Anderson had two and a half sacks to top the Texans. Another sack occurred when he nearly sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and the defender got up and pursued him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt early in the third.
Buffalo competed for a second consecutive matchup absent wideout Keon Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their last game. He was earlier held out for the first series of a defeat to the Patriots in the fifth week after additionally being late for a meeting.
No change. We are taking it day by day,” the coach said. “I felt he had a better week, but we’re taking it step by step. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we opted for the players that give us the optimal opportunity.”
Khalil Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.
The quarterback was frustrated that the team were unable to execute down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we must execute, and we didn’t succeed of that this evening,” he concluded. “Whatever situation and whatever condition, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”
