Very little went right for Josh Allen in a frustrating contest Thursday night versus the Texans.
And still he nearly managed to willing the Bills to a win before an late pick in the final minute sealed their fate in a close loss.
The quarterback took consecutive tackles for loss on the team's last drive, resulting in a long fourth down, but Buffalo (with seven wins) gained significant yardage on a short pass from Josh Allen to a receiver, who flipped a lateral to another teammate.
Following a false-start penalty created a fourth down situation for Buffalo, Calen Bullock intercepted Allen’s throw at the 9-yard line with under half a minute left.
We possessed a chance to win it there at the end,” Allen said. “Our team performed a good job of staying in it and our defensive unit 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 brought down a career-high on eight occasions and pressured four other times. The QB passed for 253 yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after producing six touchdowns in a win over Tampa Bay last week.
Whenever they hit our quarterback 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It’s just not a safe way to compete and it isn't a smart way to keep our field general in good shape for the remaining games. We need to improve our performance.”
Allen was sluggish to get up after a tackle in the first half. He indicated he was OK and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being hit so many times on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I encountered a few personally. I’ve got to be more effective at disposing of the football. Too many times, I found myself going backwards.”
Allen lost 70 yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had 2.5 tackles for loss to top the Houston defense. Another sack occurred when he almost sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and Anderson got up and chased him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt early in the third.
Buffalo played for a second consecutive matchup without receiver Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their last game. He was previously benched for the first series of a defeat to the Patriots in Week 5 after also being delayed for a meeting.
No change. We are approaching it one day at a time,” the coach noted. “I thought he had a improved week, but we’re taking 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 led the Bills with eight receptions for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a score.
The quarterback was frustrated that the team were unable to make plays down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we’ve got execute, and we failed to do a good job of that this evening,” he concluded. “Whatever situation and any condition, we need to find a way, and we came up short.”
