Very little went right for Josh Allen in a tough game Thursday night against the Houston Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to willing the Buffalo Bills to a win before an late pick in the final minute sealed their fate in a close defeat.
Allen endured back-to-back sacks on the Bills’ last drive, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (with seven wins) gained 44 yards on a quick throw from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.
Following a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, a Texans defender picked off the quarterback's pass at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds left.
We possessed a chance to win it there at the end,” Josh Allen said. “We did a solid job of hanging tough and our defensive unit saved us a few instances. We’ve got figure it out, and we didn’t.”
It was difficult for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a night he was brought down a career-high eight times and hit four additional instances. Allen threw for 253 yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after accounting for six TDs in a victory over Tampa Bay the previous week.
“When they pressure our QB 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach Sean McDermott commented. “I don’t like that stat at all. It’s just not a safe way to play and it’s not a smart way to keep our quarterback in good shape for the rest of the season. We need to play better.”
Josh Allen was slow to rise after a sack in the opening two quarters. He said he was OK and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being contacted so frequently during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I ran into a few personally. I need to be more effective at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I was losing ground.”
Allen surrendered 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half tackles for loss to top the Texans. His second one occurred when he almost sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and the defender rose and pursued him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt early in the third.
Buffalo played for a second consecutive matchup absent receiver Keon Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was tardy to a team meeting before their last game. 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.
No change. We are approaching it day by day,” McDermott said. “I thought he had a better week, but we are handling it step by step. It was not that it was ignored, but we opted for the guys that provide the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir led the Bills with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
The quarterback was disappointed that the team were unable to execute in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we’ve got perform, and we failed to succeed of that tonight,” he said. “Whatever situation and any condition, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
