Little went well for Josh Allen in a disappointing contest Thursday night versus the Houston Texans.
And still he came close to willing the Buffalo Bills to a win before an interception in the last moments sealed their fate in a close defeat.
Allen endured back-to-back tackles for loss on the Bills’ final possession, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (with seven wins) gained significant yardage on a quick throw from Allen to a receiver, who flipped a backward pass to another teammate.
After a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, Calen Bullock intercepted Allen’s pass at the Houston 9 with under half a minute left.
“We had a chance to win it there at the conclusion,” Allen said. “We did a solid job of hanging tough and our defensive unit saved us a few instances. We must find a way, and we didn’t.”
It was tough for Allen to establish rhythm on a evening he was sacked a personal-worst eight times and hit four additional instances. Allen passed for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after accounting for six TDs in a win over Tampa Bay last week.
Whenever they pressure our quarterback a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott commented. “I don’t like that stat at all. It is not a safe way to compete and it’s not a smart 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 rise after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was OK and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was asked about being hit so many times on Thursday.
“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I encountered a couple personally. I’ve got to be more effective at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I was losing ground.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Anderson had two and a half tackles for loss to lead the Texans. His second one occurred when he nearly sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and Anderson rose and chased him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt in the third quarter.
The Bills played for a second straight game without wideout Keon Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was previously held out for the opening drive of a defeat to New England in Week 5 after additionally being late for a meeting.
No change. We’re just taking it one day at a time,” the coach said. “I thought he had a better week, but we are taking it step by step. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the players that give us the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir led the Bills with eight catches for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a score.
Allen was frustrated that the Bills were unable to make plays in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we’ve got perform, and we failed to do a good job of that tonight,” he concluded. “Whatever situation and any condition, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”
