Very little clicked for Josh Allen in a tough contest Thursday night against the Texans.
Yet he came close to willing the Bills to a victory before an interception in the final minute ended their hopes in a 23-19 defeat.
Allen endured back-to-back tackles for loss on the team's last drive, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (7-4) picked up 44 yards on a short pass from Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a backward pass to another teammate.
Following a false-start penalty created a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, a Texans defender picked off the quarterback's throw at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds remaining.
We possessed a opportunity to come out on top there at the end,” Josh Allen said. “We did a solid job of staying in it and our defense bailed us out a couple of times. We must figure it out, and we didn’t.”
It was tough for the signal-caller to get anything going on a night he was brought down a personal-worst eight times and hit four other times. The QB threw for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after accounting for six touchdowns in a win over the Buccaneers the previous week.
“When they hit our quarterback a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It’s just not a safe way to play and it’s not a smart way to preserve our quarterback healthy 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 OK and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being hit so frequently during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I ran into a couple personally. I’ve got to be more effective at disposing of the football. Too many times, I found myself going backwards.”
Allen lost 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had two and a half tackles for loss to lead the Texans. Another sack came when he nearly took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and Anderson got up and chased him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt early in the third.
Buffalo competed for a second consecutive matchup without receiver Keon Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was previously held out for the opening drive of a loss to the Patriots in the fifth week after additionally being late for a team session.
No change. We’re just taking it day by day,” McDermott said. “I felt he had a better week, but we are handling it step by step. It was not that it was ignored, but we went with the players that give us the best chance.”
Shakir topped the Bills with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
The quarterback was frustrated that the team couldn’t make plays down the stretch.
In the end, we’ve got perform, and we failed to succeed of that this evening,” he said. “Whatever scenario and any condition, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”
