Little clicked for Josh Allen in a tough contest on Thursday evening versus the Houston Texans.
Yet he came close to willing the Bills to a win before an late pick in the final minute sealed their fate in a 23-19 loss.
The quarterback took consecutive sacks on the Bills’ final possession, leading to a long fourth down, but the Bills (with seven wins) picked up 44 yards on a short pass from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a lateral to another teammate.
After a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth down situation for the Bills, Calen Bullock picked off the quarterback's pass at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds remaining.
We possessed a opportunity to come out on top there at the end,” Josh Allen stated. “Our team performed a good job of staying in it and our defense bailed us out a few instances. We must find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was tough for the signal-caller to get anything going on a evening he was sacked a personal-worst on eight occasions and pressured four additional instances. The QB passed for 253 yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after producing six TDs in a win over the Buccaneers the previous week.
Whenever they hit our quarterback 12 times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott commented. “I don’t like that stat at all. It’s just not a safe way to play and it’s not a good way to keep our quarterback healthy for the remaining games. We’ve got to improve our performance.”
Allen was slow to rise after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He said he was fine and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was asked about being hit so many times on Thursday.
“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I encountered a couple myself. I need to be more effective at disposing of the football. Too many times, I found myself losing ground.”
Allen surrendered 70 yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 tackles for loss to top the Houston defense. His second one occurred when he almost sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and Anderson got up and chased him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt in the third quarter.
The Bills played for a second consecutive matchup absent wideout 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 loss to the Patriots in Week 5 after additionally being delayed for a meeting.
No change. We are taking it one day at a time,” McDermott said. “I felt he had a improved week, but we’re handling it step by step. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the guys that give us the best chance.”
Khalil Shakir led the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a score.
Allen was frustrated that the Bills were unable to make plays down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we must execute, and we failed to succeed of that tonight,” he said. “Whatever scenario and any circumstance, we need to find a way, and we didn’t.”
