Very little went right for Josh Allen in a disappointing contest Thursday night versus the Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to driving the Bills to a victory before an late pick in the last moments ended their hopes in a 23-19 loss.
The quarterback endured consecutive tackles for loss on the team's last drive, leading to a long fourth down, but Buffalo (with seven wins) gained 44 yards on a quick throw from Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a lateral to another teammate.
After a false-start penalty created a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, a Texans defender picked off Allen’s pass at the Houston 9 with under half a minute remaining.
We possessed a opportunity to come out on top there at the end,” Josh Allen stated. “We did a solid job of hanging tough and our defensive unit bailed us out a few instances. We must figure it out, and we didn’t.”
Proved tough for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a evening he was sacked a personal-worst on eight occasions and pressured four other times. The QB threw for 253 yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after accounting for six touchdowns in a victory over the Buccaneers last week.
“When they pressure our quarterback 12 times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It is not a healthy way to play and it isn't a good way to keep our field general in good shape for the remaining games. We’ve got to improve our performance.”
Josh Allen was sluggish to get up after a sack in the first half. He said he was fine and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being contacted so many times during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I encountered a few myself. I’ve got to be better at disposing of the football. Too many times, I was losing ground.”
Allen surrendered 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Anderson had two and a half tackles for loss to lead the Houston defense. Another sack came when he nearly took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and the defender got up and pursued him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt early in the third.
Buffalo competed for a second straight game absent wideout Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was late to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was earlier benched for the opening drive of a loss to the Patriots in Week 5 after also being late for a team session.
“Nothing new. We are approaching it one day at a time,” the coach said. “I thought he had a better week, but we’re taking 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 Buffalo with eight catches for 110 yards and Cook had 116 yards and a score.
Allen was disappointed that the Bills were unable to make plays down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we’ve got perform, and we didn’t do a good job of that this evening,” he concluded. “Whatever scenario and any circumstance, we need to find a way, and we came up short.”
