Very little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a frustrating contest on Thursday evening versus the Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to driving the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an late pick in the final minute ended their hopes in a close defeat.
Allen took consecutive tackles for loss on the Bills’ final possession, resulting in a long fourth down, but the Bills (with seven wins) gained 44 yards on a quick throw from Josh Allen to a receiver, who flipped a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.
After 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 remaining.
“We had a chance to win it there at the conclusion,” Allen stated. “Our team performed a good job of hanging tough and our defense saved us a few instances. We’ve got find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
Proved tough for Allen to get anything going on a night he was brought down a career-high on eight occasions and pressured four other times. The QB passed for 253 yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after producing six TDs in a victory over Tampa Bay the previous week.
“When they hit our quarterback 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It’s just not a safe way to compete and it’s not a smart way to preserve our field general in good shape for the rest of the season. We need to improve our performance.”
Josh Allen was slow to get up after a sack in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was fine and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was asked about being hit so frequently on Thursday.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I encountered a couple myself. I need to be more effective at disposing of the football. Too many times, I found myself going backwards.”
Allen surrendered 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Anderson had 2.5 tackles for loss to lead the Texans. Another sack came when he nearly took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and Anderson rose and pursued him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt in the third quarter.
Buffalo played for a second consecutive matchup absent receiver Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was late to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was previously held out for the opening drive of a defeat to New England in Week 5 after also being delayed for a team session.
“Nothing new. We’re just taking it day by day,” the coach noted. “I felt he had a improved week, but we’re handling it step by step. It was not that it was ignored, but we opted for the players that give us the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir led the Bills with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
The quarterback was frustrated that the team couldn’t execute down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we must perform, and we failed to succeed of that tonight,” he concluded. “No matter the situation and whatever condition, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
