Very little clicked for Josh Allen in a frustrating game on Thursday evening against the Houston Texans.
And still he nearly managed to driving the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an late pick in the final minute ended their hopes in a close defeat.
Allen endured back-to-back sacks on the Bills’ last drive, leading to a long fourth down, but Buffalo (7-4) gained 44 yards on a short pass from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a lateral to another teammate.
Following a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth down situation for Buffalo, Calen Bullock intercepted the quarterback's pass at the Houston 9 with under half a minute remaining.
We possessed a chance to win it there at the end,” Josh Allen said. “We did a good job of staying in it and our defense saved us a couple of times. We must find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
Proved difficult for Allen to establish rhythm on a evening he was sacked a career-high eight times and hit four other times. Allen passed for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after producing six touchdowns in a win over the Buccaneers last week.
“When they hit our QB 12 times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “I don’t like that stat at all. It is not a healthy way to compete and it’s not a smart way to keep our quarterback in good shape for the rest of the season. We’ve got to play better.”
Josh Allen was sluggish to get up after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He said he was OK and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being contacted so many times during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I ran into a couple personally. I need to be more effective at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I found myself going backwards.”
The Bills' QB surrendered 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half sacks to top the Texans. Another sack occurred when he almost sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and the defender got up and chased him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt in the third quarter.
Buffalo competed for a second straight game without receiver Keon Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was late to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was earlier benched for the opening drive of a defeat to New England in Week 5 after also being late for a meeting.
No change. We’re just taking it one day at a time,” McDermott noted. “I thought he had a improved week, but we are handling it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we went with the players that give us the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
The quarterback was frustrated that the team couldn’t make plays in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we’ve got execute, and we failed to do a good job of that this evening,” he said. “No matter the situation and any condition, we’ve got to find a way, and we came up short.”
