Very little went right for the Bills' quarterback in a tough game Thursday night against the Houston Texans.
And still he nearly managed to willing the Buffalo Bills to a win before an late pick in the final minute ended their hopes in a 23-19 defeat.
The quarterback endured consecutive sacks on the Bills’ last drive, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (7-4) gained significant yardage on a quick throw from Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a lateral to Khalil Shakir.
Following a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, a Texans defender intercepted the quarterback's pass at the Houston 9 with under half a minute remaining.
We possessed a chance to come out on top there at the end,” Allen said. “Our team performed a good job of hanging tough and our defense saved us a few instances. We must find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was difficult for the signal-caller to get anything going on a night he was brought down a career-high eight times and hit four other times. Allen passed for 253 yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after producing six TDs in a win over the Buccaneers last week.
Whenever they hit our QB a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach McDermott said. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It’s just not a healthy way to compete and it isn't a smart way to keep our field general healthy for the remaining games. We’ve got to improve our performance.”
Josh Allen was slow to rise after a tackle in the first half. He indicated he was fine and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was asked about being hit so frequently during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I ran into a couple personally. I need to be better at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I was losing ground.”
The Bills' QB surrendered 70 yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had two and a half sacks to lead the Texans. Another sack occurred when he nearly sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and the defender rose and pursued him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt early in the third.
Buffalo played for a second straight game absent wideout Keon Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was late to a team meeting before their last game. He was earlier held out for the opening drive of a loss to the Patriots in Week 5 after additionally being delayed for a meeting.
No change. We are taking it one day at a time,” the coach noted. “I thought he had a better week, but we are taking it step by step. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we went with the guys that provide the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir topped the Bills with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
The quarterback was frustrated that the team were unable to make plays in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we’ve got execute, and we failed to succeed of that tonight,” he concluded. “Whatever situation and whatever circumstance, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”
