Little went well for Josh Allen in a disappointing contest on Thursday evening versus the Texans.
Yet he came close to driving the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an late pick in the last moments sealed their fate in a close defeat.
Allen endured back-to-back tackles for loss on the team's final possession, resulting in a long fourth down, but Buffalo (7-4) gained 44 yards on a quick throw from Josh Allen to a receiver, who tossed a backward pass to another teammate.
Following a false-start penalty led to a fourth down situation for Buffalo, a Texans defender intercepted the quarterback's pass at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds left.
We possessed a opportunity to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen said. “Our team performed a solid job of hanging tough and our defensive unit bailed us out a couple of times. We must find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
Proved difficult for Allen to get anything going on a evening he was brought down a career-high on eight occasions and hit four other times. Allen threw for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and zero scores after accounting for six TDs in a win over Tampa Bay the previous week.
“When they hit our quarterback a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach McDermott commented. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It is not a safe way to play and it isn't a smart way to keep our quarterback in good shape for the rest of the season. We need to improve our performance.”
Josh Allen was slow to get up after a sack in the opening two quarters. He indicated 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 contacted so many times during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I encountered a couple myself. I need to be better at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I found myself losing ground.”
Allen surrendered 70 yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 sacks to top the Houston defense. Another sack came when he nearly took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and the defender got up and chased him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt in the third quarter.
Buffalo competed for a second consecutive matchup without wideout Keon Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was late to a squad gathering before their last game. He was previously benched for the first series of a defeat to New England in the fifth week after also being late for a team session.
“Nothing new. We are approaching it day by day,” McDermott noted. “I thought he had a improved week, but we are handling it step by step. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the guys that give us the best chance.”
Shakir led the Bills with eight receptions for 110 yards and Cook had 116 yards and a score.
The quarterback was disappointed that the Bills couldn’t make plays in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we must perform, and we failed to succeed of that this evening,” he concluded. “Whatever situation and any condition, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we came up short.”
