Little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a disappointing game Thursday night against the Houston Texans.
And still he nearly managed to driving the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an late pick in the last moments sealed their fate in a close defeat.
Allen took back-to-back sacks on the Bills’ last drive, leading to a long fourth down, but Buffalo (7-4) gained 44 yards on a quick throw from Allen to a receiver, who tossed a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.
After a pre-snap infraction created a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, Calen Bullock picked off Allen’s throw at the Houston 9 with under half a minute remaining.
We possessed a chance to win it there at the end,” Allen stated. “Our team performed a solid job of staying in it and our defensive unit saved us a couple of times. We must find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was tough for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a night he was brought down a personal-worst on eight occasions and pressured four other times. Allen threw for 253 yards with two interceptions and zero scores after producing six touchdowns in a win over Tampa Bay the previous week.
Whenever they hit our QB 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott commented. “I don’t like that stat at all. It’s just not a safe way to compete and it’s not a good way to preserve our quarterback healthy for the remaining games. We’ve got to play better.”
Josh Allen was slow to get up after a sack in the first half. He said he was fine and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was asked about being hit so frequently during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I encountered a few personally. I’ve got to be more effective at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I found myself going backwards.”
The Bills' QB surrendered 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 sacks to lead the Texans. Another sack came when he almost sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and the defender rose and chased him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt in the third quarter.
The Bills competed for a second straight game without wideout Keon Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was earlier held out for the opening drive of a defeat to New England in the fifth week after also being delayed for a meeting.
“Nothing new. We’re just taking it one day at a time,” McDermott said. “I felt he had a improved week, but we’re taking it step by step. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the guys that provide the best chance.”
Khalil Shakir topped the Bills with eight receptions for 110 yards and Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.
Allen was disappointed that the Bills were unable to execute in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we must perform, and we failed to succeed of that tonight,” he said. “Whatever situation and any condition, we need to find a way, and we came up short.”
