Very little went right for Josh Allen in a disappointing contest 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 loss.
The quarterback endured consecutive sacks on the team's final possession, leading to a long fourth down, but Buffalo (7-4) gained significant yardage on a quick throw from Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a lateral to Khalil Shakir.
Following a false-start penalty led to a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, a Texans defender picked off Allen’s pass at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds remaining.
We possessed a opportunity to come out on top there at the end,” Allen said. “We did a good job of hanging tough and our defense saved us a few instances. We must find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was difficult for the signal-caller to get anything going on a night he was sacked a career-high eight times and hit four additional instances. The QB threw for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and zero scores after producing six TDs in a win over Tampa Bay last week.
Whenever they pressure our quarterback a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “I don’t like that stat at all. It is not a healthy way to play and it’s not a smart way to preserve our quarterback in good shape for the remaining games. We’ve got to play better.”
Josh Allen was slow to get up after a sack in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was fine and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being hit so frequently on Thursday.
“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I encountered a couple personally. I’ve got to be more effective at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I found myself losing ground.”
Allen lost 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 sacks to lead the Houston defense. Another sack came when he nearly sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and Anderson rose and chased him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt in the third quarter.
Buffalo played for a second consecutive matchup without receiver Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a team meeting before their last game. He was earlier held out for the first series of a defeat to New England in the fifth week after additionally being delayed for a team session.
“Nothing new. We’re just approaching it day by day,” McDermott said. “I felt he had a better week, but we’re handling it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we went with the players that provide the best chance.”
Shakir topped the Bills with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
Allen was disappointed that the team were unable to make plays in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we’ve got perform, and we failed to do a good job of that this evening,” he concluded. “Whatever scenario and any circumstance, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
