Very little went right for Josh Allen in a frustrating contest on Thursday evening against the Texans.
And still he nearly managed to driving the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an late pick in the final minute ended their hopes in a close defeat.
The quarterback endured consecutive tackles for loss on the team's final possession, leading to a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (with seven wins) gained 44 yards on a short pass from Josh Allen to a receiver, who flipped a lateral to Khalil Shakir.
After a false-start penalty led to a fourth down situation for the Bills, a Texans defender intercepted Allen’s throw at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds remaining.
We possessed a chance to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Allen stated. “Our team performed a good job of hanging tough and our defensive unit saved us a few instances. We must figure it out, and we didn’t.”
It was tough for Allen to establish rhythm on a evening he was brought down a career-high eight times and pressured four additional instances. Allen passed for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after producing six TDs in a win over the Buccaneers last week.
“When they hit our quarterback 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott said. “I don’t like that stat at all. It’s just not a healthy way to play and it isn't a good way to keep our quarterback healthy for the rest of the season. We’ve got to play better.”
Josh Allen was sluggish to get up after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He said he was OK and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was asked about being hit so frequently during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I encountered a few myself. I’ve got to be better at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I was going backwards.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half sacks to top the Texans. Another sack occurred when he almost took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and Anderson got up and chased him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt in the third quarter.
The Bills played for a second consecutive matchup absent receiver Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was tardy to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was earlier benched for the first series of a loss to the Patriots in the fifth week after also being delayed for a team session.
No change. We are taking it one day at a time,” the coach said. “I felt he had a improved week, but we’re handling it one day at a time. It was not that it was ignored, but we opted for the guys that provide the optimal opportunity.”
Khalil Shakir led the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.
Allen was disappointed that the Bills were unable to execute down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we’ve got execute, and we didn’t succeed of that tonight,” he concluded. “No matter the situation and any circumstance, we need to find a way, and we came up short.”
