Very little went right for Josh Allen in a disappointing game Thursday night versus the Houston Texans.
Yet he came close to driving the Bills to a win before an interception in the final minute ended their hopes in a close defeat.
The quarterback endured back-to-back sacks on the team's last drive, leading to a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (with seven wins) gained 44 yards on a quick throw from Josh Allen to a receiver, who tossed a backward pass to another teammate.
Following a pre-snap infraction created a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, a Texans defender intercepted the quarterback's pass at the Houston 9 with under half a minute left.
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 bailed us out a few instances. We’ve got figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”
Proved tough for Allen to get anything going on a evening he was sacked a career-high on eight occasions and pressured four additional instances. The QB threw for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after accounting for six touchdowns in a victory over Tampa Bay the previous week.
Whenever they pressure our quarterback 12 times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach Sean McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It is not a healthy way to compete and it isn't a smart way to keep our quarterback in good shape for the rest of the season. We’ve got to improve our performance.”
Josh Allen was slow to get up after a sack in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was OK and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being contacted so frequently on Thursday.
“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I ran into a couple personally. I’ve got to be better at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I found myself going backwards.”
The Bills' QB surrendered 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 tackles for loss to lead the Texans. His second one came when he nearly sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and the defender got up and chased him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt in the third quarter.
Buffalo played for a second straight game without wideout Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their last game. He was earlier benched for the opening drive of a defeat to the Patriots in Week 5 after additionally being delayed for a team session.
“Nothing new. We’re just taking it day by day,” the coach said. “I thought he had a improved week, but we are taking it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the players that provide the best chance.”
Shakir topped the Bills with eight catches for 110 yards and Cook had 116 yards and a score.
Allen was disappointed that the Bills were unable to execute down the stretch.
In the end, we must execute, and we failed to do a good job of that this evening,” he concluded. “No matter the situation and whatever circumstance, we need to find a way, and we came up short.”
