Little went well for Josh Allen in a tough game on Thursday evening versus the Houston Texans.
And still he nearly managed to driving the Buffalo Bills to a win before an late pick in the last moments ended their hopes in a close loss.
The quarterback endured consecutive sacks on the Bills’ last drive, leading to a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (with seven wins) picked up significant yardage on a quick throw from Allen to a receiver, who tossed a backward pass to another teammate.
After a pre-snap infraction created a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, Calen Bullock intercepted the quarterback's throw at the Houston 9 with under half a minute left.
“We had a opportunity to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen stated. “Our team performed a solid job of hanging tough and our defense saved us a few instances. We’ve got figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was difficult for the signal-caller to get anything going on a night he was sacked a personal-worst eight times and pressured four other times. The QB threw for 253 yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after producing six touchdowns in a victory over Tampa Bay last week.
“When they pressure our QB 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach McDermott commented. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It’s just not a healthy way to compete and it isn't a good way to preserve our quarterback healthy for the remaining games. We’ve got to improve our performance.”
Allen was slow to get up after a tackle in the first half. He said he was OK and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being contacted so frequently on Thursday.
“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I ran into a few myself. I need to be more effective at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I was going backwards.”
Allen surrendered 70 yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had two and a half sacks to lead the Houston defense. His second one came when he nearly sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and the defender rose and pursued him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt early in the third.
Buffalo competed for a second straight game absent wideout Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their last game. He was previously benched for the opening drive of a loss to the Patriots in Week 5 after also being delayed for a meeting.
“Nothing new. We’re just taking it one day at a time,” McDermott said. “I felt he had a improved week, but we are taking it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the guys that provide the optimal opportunity.”
Khalil Shakir led the Bills with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
Allen was frustrated that the team were unable to make plays in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we must perform, and we didn’t succeed of that tonight,” he concluded. “No matter the scenario and whatever condition, we need to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
