Very little went well for the Bills' quarterback in a frustrating contest on Thursday evening versus the Houston Texans.
Yet he came close to driving the Buffalo Bills to a win before an late pick in the last moments sealed their fate in a 23-19 defeat.
The quarterback endured consecutive sacks on the Bills’ last drive, resulting in a long fourth down, but the Bills (with seven wins) gained 44 yards on a quick throw from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a lateral to Khalil Shakir.
After a pre-snap infraction created a fourth down situation for Buffalo, a Texans defender picked off Allen’s pass at the Houston 9 with under half a minute remaining.
We possessed a opportunity to come out on top there at the end,” Allen stated. “Our team performed a good job of hanging tough and our defensive unit saved us a few instances. We’ve got find a way, and we didn’t.”
It was tough for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a evening he was sacked a career-high eight times and hit four other times. Allen threw for 253 yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after accounting for six touchdowns in a win over Tampa Bay last week.
“When they pressure our QB 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach McDermott said. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It is not a safe way to play and it isn't a smart way to preserve our field general in good shape for the rest of the season. We need to play better.”
Allen was slow to get up after a tackle in the first half. He said he was OK and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was asked about being contacted so frequently during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I encountered a few personally. I’ve got to be more effective at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I found myself losing ground.”
Allen surrendered 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had 2.5 tackles for loss to lead the Texans. Another sack occurred when he nearly took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and the defender rose and chased him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt early in the third.
Buffalo played for a second straight game absent receiver Keon Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was late to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was previously held out for the opening drive of a loss to the Patriots in the fifth week after also being delayed for a meeting.
“Nothing new. We are taking it day by day,” McDermott noted. “I felt he had a improved week, but we are handling it step by step. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the players that provide the best chance.”
Shakir led the Bills with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 yards and a score.
Allen was disappointed that the team couldn’t make plays down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we’ve got execute, and we didn’t do a good job of that tonight,” he said. “Whatever situation and whatever condition, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
