Very little went well for Josh Allen in a tough game on Thursday evening against the Houston Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to driving the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an interception in the final minute sealed their fate in a 23-19 loss.
Allen took consecutive sacks on the team's final possession, leading to a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (7-4) gained significant yardage on a quick throw from Josh Allen to a receiver, who tossed a lateral to another teammate.
Following a false-start penalty led to a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, Calen Bullock picked off the quarterback's pass at the 9-yard line with under half a minute left.
“We had a chance to come out on top there at the end,” Josh Allen stated. “We did a solid job of staying in it and our defense bailed us out a couple of times. We must figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”
Proved difficult for the signal-caller to get anything going on a evening he was brought down a personal-worst on eight occasions and hit four other times. The QB threw for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and zero scores after accounting for six TDs in a victory over the Buccaneers the previous week.
Whenever they hit our QB 12 times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach McDermott said. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It’s just not a healthy way to compete and it isn't a smart way to keep our quarterback in good shape for the remaining games. We need to play better.”
Josh Allen was sluggish to get up after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He said he was fine and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being hit so many times during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I ran into a few personally. I need to be better at disposing of the football. Too many times, I was going backwards.”
Allen surrendered 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half tackles for loss to top the Texans. Another sack came when he nearly took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and Anderson rose and chased him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt early in the third.
The Bills competed for a second consecutive matchup without receiver Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a team meeting before their last game. He was previously held out for the first series of a defeat to the Patriots in Week 5 after additionally being late for a meeting.
No change. We are approaching it day by day,” McDermott said. “I thought he had a better week, but we are taking it step by step. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we went with the guys that provide the best chance.”
Khalil Shakir led the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
Allen was frustrated that the Bills were unable to execute in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we’ve got execute, and we didn’t succeed of that tonight,” he concluded. “No matter the situation and whatever circumstance, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”
