Very little went right for the Bills' quarterback in a frustrating game on Thursday evening against the Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to willing the Buffalo Bills to a win before an interception in the last moments sealed their fate in a 23-19 defeat.
Allen endured consecutive tackles for loss on the Bills’ final possession, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (with seven wins) gained significant yardage on a quick throw from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a lateral to another teammate.
Following a false-start penalty created a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, Calen Bullock intercepted Allen’s pass at the Houston 9 with under half a minute left.
“We had a chance to win it there at the end,” Josh Allen stated. “Our team performed a solid job of hanging tough and our defensive unit bailed us out a couple of times. We must figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was difficult for Allen to get anything going on a evening he was sacked a career-high on eight occasions and pressured four other times. Allen passed for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and zero scores after producing six touchdowns in a victory over the Buccaneers the previous week.
“When they pressure our QB a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach Sean McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It’s just not a safe way to play and it isn't a smart way to keep our field general in good shape for the rest of the season. We’ve got to improve our performance.”
Josh Allen was slow to get up after a tackle in the first half. He said he was OK and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being hit so many times on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I ran into a few personally. I’ve got to be more effective at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I found myself losing ground.”
The Bills' QB surrendered 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had 2.5 sacks to top the Texans. Another sack occurred when he almost sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and Anderson rose and pursued him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt in the third quarter.
The Bills played for a second straight game absent wideout Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a team meeting before their last game. He was earlier held out for the first series of a defeat to New England in the fifth week after also being late for a team session.
“Nothing new. We are approaching it day by day,” the coach said. “I thought he had a improved week, but we are taking it step by step. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the guys that give us the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.
Allen was frustrated that the Bills were unable to make plays down the stretch.
In the end, we’ve got execute, and we failed to do a good job of that tonight,” he said. “No matter the scenario and any circumstance, we need to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
