Very little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a tough game on Thursday evening against the Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to willing the Buffalo Bills to a win before an late pick in the last moments ended their hopes in a 23-19 loss.
The quarterback took back-to-back sacks on the team's last drive, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (with seven wins) gained 44 yards on a short pass from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.
Following a pre-snap infraction created a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, Calen Bullock intercepted the quarterback's pass at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds left.
“We had a opportunity to win it there at the conclusion,” Allen said. “Our team performed a solid job of hanging tough and our defense saved us a few instances. We’ve got find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
Proved tough for the signal-caller to get anything going on a evening he was brought down a career-high on eight occasions and pressured four additional instances. Allen passed for 253 yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after producing six TDs in a victory over the Buccaneers last week.
Whenever they pressure our QB 12 times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “I don’t like that stat at all. It’s just not a safe way to compete and it’s not 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 sluggish to rise after a sack in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was OK and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was asked about being hit so frequently on Thursday.
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 losing ground.”
Allen lost 70 yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half sacks to lead the Houston defense. His second one occurred when he nearly sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and the defender got up and pursued him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt early in the third.
Buffalo played for a second consecutive matchup without receiver Keon Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was late to a team meeting before their last game. He was earlier held out for the first series of a loss to New England in Week 5 after additionally being delayed for a team session.
No change. We are taking it one day at a time,” the coach noted. “I felt he had a improved week, but we’re taking it step by step. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we opted for the guys that give us the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir topped the Bills with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
Allen was frustrated that the team were unable to make plays in crucial moments.
In the end, we must execute, and we failed to succeed of that tonight,” he said. “Whatever situation and whatever condition, we need to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
