Little went right for Josh Allen in a tough game on Thursday evening against the Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to willing the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an late pick in the final minute ended their hopes in a 23-19 defeat.
Allen took back-to-back tackles for loss on the Bills’ last drive, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (7-4) gained significant yardage on a short pass from Josh Allen to a receiver, who tossed a lateral to another teammate.
Following a false-start penalty led to a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, a Texans defender picked off Allen’s throw at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds left.
“We had a chance to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Allen stated. “We did a solid job of staying in it and our defense bailed us out a few instances. We’ve got find a way, and we didn’t.”
It was difficult for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a evening he was sacked a career-high eight times and hit four other times. The QB threw for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and zero scores after producing six touchdowns in a win over the Buccaneers the previous week.
“When they hit our quarterback a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It is not a safe way to play and it’s not a good way to preserve our quarterback in good shape for the remaining games. We need to play better.”
Allen was slow to rise after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He said he was OK and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was asked about being contacted so many times on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I encountered a couple myself. I’ve got to be better at disposing of the football. Too many times, I found myself losing ground.”
Allen surrendered 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had 2.5 sacks to top the Texans. His second one occurred when he nearly sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and Anderson rose and pursued him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt early in the third.
Buffalo competed for a second straight game without wideout Keon Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was late to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was previously held out for the first series of a defeat to New England in the fifth week after also being late for a team session.
“Nothing new. We are approaching it one day at a time,” the coach noted. “I felt he had a improved week, but we are taking it one day at a time. It was not that it was ignored, but we opted for the players that give us the best chance.”
Shakir led the Bills with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a score.
The quarterback was frustrated that the Bills were unable to make plays down the stretch.
In the end, we must execute, and we failed to do a good job of that tonight,” he concluded. “No matter the situation and any circumstance, we need to discover a solution, and we came up short.”
