Little clicked for Josh Allen in a tough game on Thursday evening versus the Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to willing the Buffalo Bills to a win before an late pick in the last moments sealed their fate in a 23-19 defeat.
The quarterback took consecutive tackles for loss on the Bills’ last drive, resulting in 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 backward pass to another teammate.
Following a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth down situation for Buffalo, Calen Bullock picked off the quarterback's throw at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds left.
We possessed a opportunity to win it there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen stated. “We did a solid job of staying in it and our defensive unit saved us a few instances. We’ve got figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was difficult for Allen to establish rhythm on a evening he was sacked a career-high eight times and hit four other times. The QB threw for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and zero scores after accounting for six touchdowns in a win over Tampa Bay last week.
“When they hit our quarterback 12 times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach McDermott said. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It’s just not a safe way to play and it’s not a smart way to preserve our field general in good shape for the remaining games. We’ve got to play better.”
Josh Allen was slow to get up after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was fine and that his left 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 remarked. “I ran into a few personally. I’ve got to be better at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I was losing ground.”
Allen lost 70 yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had 2.5 tackles for loss to lead the Houston defense. His second one occurred when he almost took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and the defender rose and pursued him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt early in the third.
The Bills competed for a second consecutive matchup without receiver Keon Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was late to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was previously benched for the opening drive of a loss to the Patriots in the fifth week after additionally being delayed for a meeting.
No change. We are taking it one day at a time,” the coach noted. “I felt he had a better week, but we are 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.”
Khalil Shakir led the Bills with eight receptions for 110 yards and Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.
Allen was disappointed 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 whatever condition, we need to find a way, and we didn’t.”
