Little went right for Josh Allen in a disappointing game Thursday night versus the Texans.
And still he came close to willing the Bills to a win before an late pick in the last moments sealed their fate in a 23-19 defeat.
The quarterback endured back-to-back tackles for loss on the team's last drive, leading to a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (7-4) gained 44 yards on a quick throw from Josh Allen to a receiver, who flipped a backward pass to another teammate.
After a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, a Texans defender intercepted the quarterback's throw at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds left.
We possessed a chance to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen stated. “We did a good job of staying in it and our defense saved us a couple of times. We must figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”
Proved tough for Allen to establish rhythm on a night he was sacked a personal-worst eight times and hit four other times. Allen threw for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after producing six TDs in a win over Tampa Bay last week.
“When they hit our quarterback a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott said. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It is not a healthy way to play and it isn't a smart way to preserve our field general healthy for the remaining games. We need to play better.”
Josh Allen was slow to rise after a sack in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was OK and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was asked about being hit so frequently during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I ran into a couple personally. I need to be better at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I was going backwards.”
Allen lost 70 yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had 2.5 sacks to top the Texans. His second one occurred when he almost sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and Anderson rose and pursued him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt early in the third.
Buffalo competed for a second straight game absent wideout Keon Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was earlier held out for the opening drive of a loss to New England in the fifth week after also being delayed for a team session.
No change. We are taking it one day at a time,” McDermott noted. “I felt he had a improved week, but we are handling it one day at a time. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the players that provide the best chance.”
Khalil Shakir topped the Bills with eight receptions for 110 yards and Cook had 116 yards and a score.
Allen was frustrated that the Bills couldn’t execute down the stretch.
In the end, we must execute, and we didn’t succeed of that this evening,” he concluded. “Whatever situation and any condition, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”
