Very little went well for the Bills' quarterback in a frustrating game on Thursday evening against the Houston Texans.
Yet he came close to willing the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an late pick in the last moments sealed their fate in a 23-19 defeat.
Allen endured consecutive tackles for loss on the team's last drive, leading to a long fourth down, but the Bills (with seven wins) picked up significant yardage on a quick throw from Josh Allen to a receiver, who flipped a backward pass to another teammate.
After a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, a Texans defender picked off the quarterback's pass at the Houston 9 with under half a minute left.
We possessed a opportunity to win it there at the end,” Josh Allen stated. “We did a good job of staying in it and our defense bailed us out a few instances. We must figure it out, and we didn’t.”
It was tough for Allen to establish rhythm on a night he was sacked 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 producing six touchdowns in a victory over the Buccaneers last week.
“When they hit our quarterback a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott said. “I don’t like that stat at all. It is not a safe way to compete and it’s not a smart way to keep our quarterback healthy for the rest of the season. We need to play better.”
Josh Allen was sluggish to rise after a sack in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was OK and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being contacted so frequently during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I ran into a few myself. I need to be better at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I found myself losing ground.”
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 occurred when he almost sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and the defender rose and chased him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt in the third quarter.
Buffalo competed for a second straight game absent receiver Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was late to a squad gathering before their last game. He was previously benched for the first series of a loss to the Patriots in Week 5 after also being late for a meeting.
“Nothing new. We are taking it day by day,” McDermott said. “I felt he had a improved week, but we are taking it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we went with the guys that give us the optimal opportunity.”
Khalil Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 yards and a score.
The quarterback was frustrated that the Bills couldn’t execute in crucial moments.
In the end, we’ve got perform, and we didn’t do a good job of that tonight,” he concluded. “No matter the scenario and any condition, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
