Little went right for Josh Allen in a frustrating game on Thursday evening versus the Texans.
And still he nearly managed to willing the Bills to a win before an late pick in the last moments sealed their fate in a close defeat.
Allen took back-to-back sacks on the Bills’ last drive, leading to a long fourth down, but Buffalo (7-4) picked up 44 yards on a short pass from Allen to a receiver, who flipped a lateral to another teammate.
After a pre-snap infraction created a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, Calen Bullock intercepted Allen’s throw at the Houston 9 with under half a minute left.
We possessed a opportunity to win it there at the end,” Josh Allen stated. “Our team performed a good job of hanging tough and our defense saved us a couple of times. We’ve got find a way, and we didn’t.”
It was tough for Allen to establish rhythm on a night he was brought down a personal-worst on eight occasions and hit four additional instances. The QB threw for 253 yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after accounting for six TDs in a victory over Tampa Bay last week.
Whenever they pressure our QB a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott commented. “I don’t like that stat at all. It is not a healthy way to play and it’s not a smart way to keep our quarterback in good shape for the rest of the season. We need to play better.”
Josh Allen was sluggish to rise after a tackle in the first half. He said he was OK and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was asked about being contacted so many times during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I encountered a couple personally. I need to be better at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I was going backwards.”
Allen surrendered 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half sacks to top the Texans. His second one came when he almost sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and Anderson rose and chased him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt in the third quarter.
Buffalo played for a second straight game without wideout Keon Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was late to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was previously benched for the first series of a defeat to New England in the fifth week after also being late for a meeting.
No change. We’re just approaching it day by day,” the coach noted. “I felt he had a improved week, but we’re taking it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we opted for the guys that give us the best chance.”
Khalil Shakir topped the Bills with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
Allen was frustrated that the Bills were unable to execute down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we must execute, and we didn’t succeed of that this evening,” he said. “No matter the scenario and any circumstance, we’ve got to find a way, and we came up short.”
