Little went right for Josh Allen in a frustrating contest Thursday night against the Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to willing the Buffalo Bills to a win before an late pick in the last moments sealed their fate in a 23-19 loss.
Allen endured consecutive tackles for loss on the Bills’ last drive, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (with seven wins) picked up significant yardage on a short pass from Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a lateral to another teammate.
Following a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth down situation for the Bills, a Texans defender picked off Allen’s throw at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds left.
We possessed a chance to win it there at the end,” Josh Allen stated. “Our team performed a solid job of hanging tough and our defense saved us a couple of times. We must figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was tough for Allen to establish rhythm on a night he was sacked a personal-worst on eight occasions and hit four other times. Allen passed for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after producing six TDs in a win over the Buccaneers the previous week.
“When they hit our QB 12 times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It’s just not a safe way to play and it’s not a smart way to keep our quarterback in good shape for the rest of the season. We’ve got to improve our performance.”
Josh Allen was sluggish to rise after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He said he was fine and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being hit so many times on Thursday.
“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I ran into a few personally. I need to be better at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I found myself losing ground.”
Allen surrendered 70 yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half sacks to lead the Houston defense. Another sack came when he nearly sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and Anderson rose and pursued him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt in the third quarter.
The Bills played for a second consecutive matchup absent receiver Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was earlier held out for the opening drive of a defeat to the Patriots in the fifth week after also being delayed for a team session.
No change. We are approaching it day by day,” the coach said. “I felt he had a improved week, but we are taking it step by step. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we went with the players that give us the optimal opportunity.”
Khalil Shakir led the Bills with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
The quarterback was disappointed that the Bills couldn’t make plays down the stretch.
In the end, we’ve got perform, and we didn’t do a good job of that tonight,” he said. “Whatever situation and whatever condition, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
