Little went well for Josh Allen in a tough game Thursday night against the Houston Texans.
Yet he came close to willing the Bills to a win before an interception in the last moments ended their hopes in a 23-19 loss.
The quarterback took consecutive tackles for loss on the Bills’ final possession, leading to a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (7-4) gained 44 yards on a short pass from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.
After a false-start penalty created a fourth down situation for the Bills, a Texans defender picked off the quarterback's throw at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds left.
We possessed a chance to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Allen said. “We did a solid job of hanging tough and our defense bailed us out a few instances. We must figure it out, and we didn’t.”
Proved difficult for Allen to get anything going on a evening he was sacked a personal-worst on eight occasions and hit four additional instances. The QB passed for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after accounting for six TDs in a win over Tampa Bay the previous week.
“When they pressure our quarterback a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach Sean McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It’s just not a healthy way to compete and it isn't a good way to keep our field general in good shape for the remaining games. We’ve got to improve our performance.”
Allen was slow to rise after a sack in the first half. He said he was fine and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being contacted so many times on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I encountered a couple personally. I need to be better at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I found myself going backwards.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 sacks to lead the Texans. Another sack occurred when he almost sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and Anderson rose and pursued 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 receiver Keon Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was late to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was earlier benched for the first series of a loss to the Patriots in Week 5 after also being delayed for a team session.
No change. 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 was ignored, but we opted for the guys that give us the best chance.”
Khalil Shakir led the Bills with eight receptions for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.
The quarterback was frustrated that the team were unable to execute down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we must perform, and we didn’t do a good job of that this evening,” he concluded. “Whatever scenario and any condition, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”
