Very little went right for Josh Allen in a tough game Thursday night versus the Houston Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to driving the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an interception in the final minute sealed their fate in a close defeat.
Allen endured consecutive sacks on the team's final possession, resulting in a long fourth down, but the Bills (with seven wins) picked up significant yardage on a short pass from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a lateral to another teammate.
Following a false-start penalty created a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, a Texans defender picked off Allen’s pass at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds remaining.
We possessed a chance to win it there at the conclusion,” Allen stated. “Our team performed a solid job of hanging tough and our defensive unit bailed us out a few instances. We must figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was tough for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a evening he was sacked a personal-worst eight times and hit four additional instances. The QB passed for 253 yards with two interceptions and zero scores after producing six touchdowns in a win over Tampa Bay last week.
“When they pressure 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 isn't a good way to keep our field general 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 indicated he was OK and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being contacted so many times during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I ran into a couple personally. I need to be better at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I found myself losing ground.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had 2.5 tackles for loss to top the Texans. His second one came when he almost sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and Anderson got up and chased him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt early in the third.
The Bills played for a second consecutive matchup absent wideout Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was late to a team meeting before their last game. He was previously held out for the opening drive of a loss to New England in Week 5 after also being delayed for a team session.
No change. We’re just taking it one day at a time,” McDermott 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 opted for the guys that give us the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight catches for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a score.
Allen was disappointed that the Bills were unable to execute down the stretch.
In the end, we must execute, and we failed to do a good job of that this evening,” he said. “Whatever scenario and whatever circumstance, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we came up short.”
