Very little clicked for Josh Allen in a disappointing contest Thursday night against the Houston Texans.
Yet he came close to driving the Buffalo Bills to a win before an late pick in the last moments sealed their fate in a 23-19 loss.
The quarterback took consecutive tackles for loss on the team's final possession, leading to a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (with seven wins) gained significant yardage on a short pass from Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a lateral to Khalil Shakir.
After a false-start penalty created a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, a Texans defender intercepted Allen’s pass at the 9-yard line with under half a minute remaining.
We possessed a chance to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen said. “We did a good job of staying in it and our defense saved us a few instances. We must find a way, and we didn’t.”
It was difficult for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a night he was brought down a career-high on eight occasions 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 the Buccaneers last week.
Whenever they hit our quarterback a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach Sean McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It is not a safe way to play 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.”
Allen was sluggish to get up after a sack in the first half. He said he was fine and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being hit so many times on Thursday.
“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I encountered a couple personally. I’ve got to be better at disposing of the football. Too many times, I found myself going backwards.”
Allen surrendered 70 yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had two and a half sacks to lead the Texans. His second one came when he nearly sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and Anderson rose and chased him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt early in the third.
The Bills competed for a second straight game without wideout Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was late to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was earlier benched for the first series of a defeat to the Patriots in Week 5 after also being delayed for a meeting.
“Nothing new. We are approaching it one day at a time,” the coach noted. “I thought he had a better week, but we’re taking it one day at a time. It was not that it was ignored, but we went with the guys that give us the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir led the Bills with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a score.
Allen was frustrated that the Bills couldn’t execute in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we’ve got execute, and we didn’t succeed of that tonight,” he said. “No matter the situation and whatever circumstance, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”
