Little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a tough game Thursday night versus the Texans.
And still he came close to willing the Bills to a victory before an interception in the final minute sealed their fate in a close defeat.
Allen took back-to-back sacks on the Bills’ final possession, resulting in a long fourth down, but the Bills (7-4) gained significant yardage on a quick throw from Allen to a receiver, who flipped a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.
After a false-start penalty led to a fourth down situation for Buffalo, Calen Bullock intercepted the quarterback's pass 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. “Our team performed a good job of staying in it and our defensive unit saved us a few instances. We’ve got find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was difficult for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a evening he was sacked a career-high eight times and hit four additional instances. The QB passed for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after producing six TDs in a win over Tampa Bay last week.
“When they pressure our QB a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It is not a healthy way to play and it’s not a good way to preserve our quarterback healthy for the rest of the season. We need to improve our performance.”
Allen was sluggish to rise after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He said he was fine and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being contacted so many times on Thursday.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I ran into a few myself. I’ve got to be better at disposing of the football. Too many times, I found myself going backwards.”
Allen surrendered 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had two and a half tackles for loss to top the Houston defense. His second one came when he almost sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and the defender rose and pursued him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt early in the third.
The Bills competed for a second straight game absent receiver Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was tardy to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was earlier benched for the opening drive of a defeat to New England in the fifth week after additionally being late for a team session.
“Nothing new. We’re just approaching it one day at a time,” the coach said. “I thought he had a improved week, but we are handling it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we opted for the players that provide the best chance.”
Shakir led the Buffalo with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 yards and a score.
The quarterback was disappointed that the Bills were unable to make plays in crucial moments.
In the end, we’ve got execute, and we failed to succeed of that this evening,” he concluded. “Whatever situation and whatever condition, we’ve got to find a way, and we came up short.”
