Little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a tough contest Thursday night against the Houston Texans.
And still he nearly managed to willing the Bills to a victory before an late pick in the last moments sealed their fate in a close defeat.
The quarterback endured back-to-back tackles for loss on the Bills’ last drive, leading to a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (with seven wins) gained significant yardage on a short pass from Allen to a receiver, who flipped a lateral to Khalil Shakir.
After a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth down situation for the Bills, Calen Bullock picked off the quarterback's throw at the Houston 9 with under half a minute remaining.
We possessed a chance to come out on top there at the end,” Josh Allen stated. “Our team performed a solid job of staying in it and our defensive unit bailed us out a few instances. We must find a way, and we didn’t.”
It was tough for the signal-caller to get anything going on a night he was sacked a career-high on eight occasions and pressured four other times. Allen passed for 253 yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after producing six TDs in a win over Tampa Bay last week.
Whenever they hit our QB 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that statistic 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.”
Josh Allen was slow to rise after a sack in the first half. He said he was OK and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being hit so frequently during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I encountered a few personally. I need to be better at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I was losing ground.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 tackles for loss to top the Houston defense. Another sack occurred when he almost 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 loss to force a punt early in the third.
Buffalo played for a second consecutive matchup absent wideout Keon Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was tardy to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was earlier benched for the opening drive of a loss to the Patriots in Week 5 after also being delayed for a meeting.
No change. We are approaching it one day at a time,” the coach noted. “I felt he had a improved week, but we’re taking it one day at a time. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the guys that provide the best chance.”
Shakir led the Bills with eight catches for 110 yards and Cook had 116 yards and a score.
The quarterback was frustrated that the Bills were unable to execute in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we’ve got perform, and we failed to succeed of that this evening,” he said. “Whatever scenario and any circumstance, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we came up short.”
