Very little went right for Josh Allen in a disappointing contest on Thursday evening versus the Houston Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to driving the Bills to a victory before an late pick in the last moments sealed their fate in a close defeat.
The quarterback took back-to-back sacks on the team's last drive, leading to a long fourth down, but Buffalo (with seven wins) gained significant yardage on a quick throw from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.
Following a pre-snap infraction created a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, Calen Bullock picked off the quarterback's pass at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds remaining.
We possessed a opportunity to win it there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen stated. “We did a solid job of hanging tough and our defensive unit saved us a few instances. We must find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
Proved tough for Allen to establish rhythm on a evening he was brought down a personal-worst eight times and hit four additional instances. Allen passed for 253 yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after producing six touchdowns in a win over Tampa Bay the previous week.
“When they hit our quarterback 12 times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It’s just not a healthy way to play 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 sluggish to rise after a tackle in the first half. He said he was OK and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was asked about being hit so many times on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I encountered a few myself. I’ve got to be more effective at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I found myself going backwards.”
Allen lost 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Anderson had 2.5 tackles for loss to lead the Texans. His second one came when he nearly sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and the defender got up and chased him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt in the third quarter.
The Bills competed for a second consecutive matchup without wideout Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was late to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was previously benched for the opening drive of a loss to New England in the fifth week after additionally being late for a team session.
“Nothing new. We’re just taking it day by day,” the coach said. “I thought he had a improved week, but we are taking it step by step. It was not that it was ignored, but we opted for the players that give us the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.
Allen was frustrated that the Bills were unable to execute down the stretch.
In the end, we’ve got perform, and we failed to do a good job of that this evening,” he said. “Whatever situation and any circumstance, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”
