Little went right for Josh Allen in a disappointing game on Thursday evening against the Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to willing the Bills to a victory before an interception in the final minute sealed their fate in a close defeat.
Allen endured back-to-back sacks on the Bills’ final possession, resulting in a long fourth down, but the Bills (7-4) gained significant yardage on a short pass from Josh Allen to a receiver, who flipped a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.
After a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, a Texans defender intercepted the quarterback's throw at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds remaining.
We possessed a chance to come out on top there at the end,” Josh Allen said. “Our team performed a solid job of hanging tough and our defense saved us a couple of times. We must find a way, and we didn’t.”
Proved tough for Allen to get anything going on a night he was brought down a career-high eight times and pressured four additional instances. Allen threw for 253 yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after producing six touchdowns in a win over Tampa Bay last week.
“When they hit our QB 12 times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach Sean McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It is not a healthy way to play and it isn't a smart way to preserve our field general in good shape for the rest of the season. We’ve got to improve our performance.”
Allen was sluggish to rise after a sack in the first half. He indicated he was OK and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being contacted so frequently during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I encountered a couple personally. I need to be better at disposing of the football. Too many times, I found myself losing ground.”
Allen surrendered 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 tackles for loss to top the Houston defense. Another sack came when he almost took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and the defender rose and pursued him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt in the third quarter.
Buffalo played for a second consecutive matchup without wideout Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was late to a squad gathering before their last game. He was earlier benched for the first series of a loss to the Patriots in the fifth week after additionally being late for a team session.
“Nothing new. We are taking it day by day,” McDermott said. “I thought he had a better week, but we’re taking it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the guys that provide the optimal opportunity.”
Khalil Shakir topped the Bills with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a score.
The quarterback was frustrated that the Bills were unable to execute in crucial moments.
In the end, we must perform, and we didn’t succeed of that tonight,” he concluded. “Whatever situation and whatever condition, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”
