Very little clicked for Josh Allen in a tough game on Thursday evening against the Houston Texans.
And still he came close to driving the Bills to a victory before an late pick in the final minute ended their hopes in a 23-19 loss.
The quarterback took back-to-back tackles for loss on the Bills’ last drive, leading to a long fourth down, but the Bills (with seven wins) gained significant yardage on a quick throw from Allen to a receiver, who flipped a backward pass to another teammate.
Following a false-start penalty created a fourth down situation for the Bills, Calen Bullock intercepted Allen’s throw at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds remaining.
“We had a chance to win it there at the end,” Josh 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 we didn’t.”
It was difficult for Allen to get anything going on a night he was brought down a career-high eight times and hit four additional instances. The QB threw for 253 yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after producing six TDs in a win over Tampa Bay the previous week.
“When they pressure our QB 12 times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott said. “I don’t like that stat at all. It is not a healthy way to play and it’s not a smart way to preserve our field general in good shape for the rest of the season. We’ve got to play better.”
Allen was slow to get up after a sack in the first half. He said he was fine and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being hit so frequently on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I encountered a few personally. I’ve got to be more effective at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I was losing ground.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half tackles for loss to top the Houston defense. Another sack occurred when he nearly took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and the defender got up and pursued him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt in the third quarter.
The Bills played for a second straight game without wideout Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was earlier benched for the first series of a defeat to New England in the fifth week after additionally being delayed for a meeting.
No change. We are approaching it one day at a time,” the coach noted. “I thought he had a improved week, but we’re taking it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the guys that provide the best chance.”
Shakir led the Buffalo with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.
The quarterback was frustrated that the Bills were unable to make plays in crucial moments.
In the end, we’ve got execute, and we didn’t do a good job of that tonight,” he concluded. “Whatever situation and whatever circumstance, we need to find a way, and we came up short.”
