Very little went right for Josh Allen in a tough game on Thursday evening versus the Houston Texans.
And still he came close to driving the Buffalo Bills to a win before an late pick in the final minute sealed their fate in a 23-19 loss.
Allen endured back-to-back sacks on the Bills’ final possession, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (with seven wins) picked up significant yardage on a quick throw from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a backward pass to another teammate.
Following a false-start penalty created a fourth down situation for the Bills, a Texans defender picked off Allen’s throw at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds remaining.
“We had a chance to win it there at the end,” Allen stated. “Our team performed a solid job of staying in it and our defensive unit saved us a couple of times. We’ve got figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was difficult for the signal-caller to get anything going on a night he was brought down a career-high on eight occasions and hit four additional instances. The QB passed for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after producing six touchdowns in a win over the Buccaneers the previous week.
Whenever they hit our quarterback 12 times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott commented. “I don’t like that stat at all. It’s just not a healthy way to compete and it isn't a smart way to keep our quarterback healthy for the rest of the season. We’ve got to play better.”
Allen was sluggish to rise after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He said he was OK and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was asked about being hit so many times during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I encountered a couple myself. I’ve got to be more effective at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I found myself going backwards.”
The Bills' QB surrendered 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half tackles for loss to top the Houston defense. Another sack occurred when he almost took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and Anderson rose and pursued him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt early in the third.
The Bills competed for a second straight game without wideout Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was late to a squad gathering before their last game. He was earlier held out for the opening drive of a defeat to New England in the fifth week after also being delayed for a meeting.
“Nothing new. We are approaching it day by day,” McDermott said. “I thought he had a better week, but we are handling it one day at a time. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the players that provide the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight catches for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.
The quarterback was frustrated that the Bills couldn’t execute down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we’ve got execute, and we failed to do a good job of that tonight,” he concluded. “Whatever situation and whatever circumstance, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we came up short.”
