Little went right for Josh Allen in a disappointing contest on Thursday evening against the Texans.
And still he nearly managed to willing the Buffalo Bills to a win before an interception in the final minute sealed their fate in a 23-19 loss.
The quarterback took back-to-back sacks on the team's last drive, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (with seven wins) gained significant yardage on a quick throw from Josh Allen to a receiver, who tossed a backward pass to another teammate.
After a pre-snap infraction created a fourth down situation for Buffalo, a Texans defender picked off the quarterback's pass at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds left.
We possessed a opportunity to win it there at the conclusion,” Allen said. “Our team performed a solid job of hanging tough and our defense saved us a few instances. We must find a way, and we didn’t.”
It was difficult for the signal-caller to get anything going on a evening he was brought down a career-high on eight occasions and hit four additional instances. The QB passed for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and zero scores after producing six touchdowns in a victory over the Buccaneers last week.
Whenever they hit our quarterback 12 times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott said. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It is not a safe way to play and it’s not a good way to keep our quarterback healthy for the remaining games. We need to play better.”
Allen was sluggish to rise after a tackle in the first half. 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 questioned about being contacted so frequently on Thursday.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I encountered a couple personally. I’ve got to be more effective at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I was going backwards.”
Allen surrendered 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half sacks 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 drop him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt early in the third.
The Bills competed for a second straight game absent wideout Keon Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was tardy to a team meeting before their last game. He was previously benched for the first series of a loss to New England in the fifth week after also being late for a meeting.
“Nothing new. We are approaching it one day at a time,” McDermott noted. “I felt he had a better week, but we’re handling it step by step. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the players that provide the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.
The quarterback was disappointed that the team were unable to make plays down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we must execute, and we didn’t do a good job of that this evening,” he concluded. “No matter the scenario and whatever circumstance, we need to discover a solution, and we came up short.”
