Very little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a frustrating contest Thursday night against the Texans.
And still he nearly managed to willing the Bills to a win before an late pick in the last moments ended their hopes in a 23-19 loss.
Allen took back-to-back sacks on the Bills’ final possession, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (with seven wins) gained significant yardage on a quick throw from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a backward pass to another teammate.
After a false-start penalty created a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, Calen Bullock picked off Allen’s pass at the 9-yard line with under half a minute remaining.
“We had a chance to come out on top there at the end,” Josh Allen said. “We did a good job of staying in it and our defensive unit saved us a couple of times. We’ve got find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was difficult for the signal-caller to get anything going on a evening he was brought down a career-high on eight occasions and pressured four other times. The QB threw for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and zero scores after accounting for six touchdowns in a win over the Buccaneers last week.
“When they hit our QB 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott commented. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It’s just not a safe way to compete and it’s not a smart way to preserve our quarterback in good shape for the rest of the season. We need to play better.”
Josh Allen was sluggish to get up after a tackle in the first half. He indicated he was OK and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was asked about being contacted so many times on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I ran into a couple personally. I’ve got to be more effective at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I found myself going backwards.”
The Bills' QB surrendered 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had two and a half sacks to top the Texans. His second one occurred when he nearly sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and the defender rose and pursued him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt early in the third.
Buffalo played for a second straight game absent wideout Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was late to a squad gathering before their last game. He was previously held out for the opening drive of a loss to New England in Week 5 after additionally being late for a team session.
“Nothing new. We’re just approaching it day by day,” McDermott said. “I thought he had a improved week, but we are taking it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the players that give us the best chance.”
Shakir led the Buffalo with eight catches for 110 yards and Cook had 116 yards and a score.
Allen was disappointed that the team were unable to make plays down the stretch.
In the end, we must execute, and we failed to do a good job of that tonight,” he said. “No matter the situation and whatever condition, we need to find a way, and we didn’t.”
