Little clicked for Josh Allen in a frustrating contest Thursday night versus the Houston Texans.
And still he came close to driving the Buffalo Bills to a win before an late pick in the final minute sealed their fate in a close defeat.
Allen endured consecutive sacks on the Bills’ final possession, leading to a long fourth down, but the Bills (7-4) gained significant yardage on a short pass from Allen to a receiver, who flipped a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.
Following a false-start penalty created a fourth down situation for the Bills, a Texans defender picked off Allen’s pass at the Houston 9 with under half a minute left.
We possessed a chance to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen said. “We did a good job of hanging tough and our defense bailed us out a few instances. We’ve got find a way, and we didn’t.”
Proved difficult for Allen to get anything going on a evening he was sacked a career-high on eight occasions and pressured four additional instances. The QB threw for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after accounting for six TDs in a victory over Tampa Bay the previous week.
“When they pressure our quarterback a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott commented. “I don’t like that stat at all. It’s just not a healthy way to compete and it’s not a good way to preserve our quarterback in good shape for the rest of the season. We’ve got to play better.”
Allen was sluggish to rise after a tackle in the first half. He said he was fine and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being hit so frequently on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I ran into a couple myself. I’ve got to be better at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I was losing ground.”
The Bills' QB surrendered 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 tackles for loss to top the Houston defense. Another sack came when he nearly sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and the defender rose and chased him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt early in the third.
The Bills competed for a second consecutive matchup absent receiver Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was late to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was previously benched for the first series of a defeat to the Patriots in the fifth week after additionally being delayed for a team session.
No change. We’re just taking it day by day,” the coach said. “I felt he had a improved week, but we are handling it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we opted for the guys that provide the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir led the Buffalo with eight catches for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a score.
Allen was disappointed that the team were unable to make plays down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we must execute, and we didn’t do a good job of that tonight,” he said. “Whatever situation and whatever circumstance, we need to discover a solution, and we came up short.”
