Little went right for Josh Allen in a frustrating contest Thursday night against the Houston Texans.
And still he came close to driving the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an interception in the final minute ended their hopes in a close defeat.
Allen endured consecutive tackles for loss on the Bills’ final possession, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (with seven wins) gained significant yardage on a quick throw from Allen to a receiver, who tossed a backward pass to another teammate.
Following a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth down situation for the Bills, Calen Bullock picked off Allen’s pass at the 9-yard line with under half a minute remaining.
“We had a opportunity to win it there at the end,” Josh Allen said. “We did a good job of hanging tough and our defense bailed us out a couple of times. We must figure it out, and we didn’t.”
Proved difficult for Allen to establish rhythm 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 a pair of picks and zero scores after producing six touchdowns in a victory over Tampa Bay last week.
Whenever they pressure our QB a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott said. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It is not a safe way to play and it’s not a smart way to keep our quarterback in good shape for the remaining games. We need to improve our performance.”
Josh Allen was sluggish to rise after a tackle in the first half. He said he was OK and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it awkwardly. 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 more effective at disposing of the football. Too many times, I found myself going backwards.”
Allen lost 70 yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 sacks to top the Texans. Another sack occurred when he nearly sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and the defender got up and chased him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt in the third quarter.
The Bills played for a second straight game absent receiver Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was previously benched for the first series of a loss to New England in the fifth week after additionally being delayed for a meeting.
No change. We are approaching it one day at a time,” the coach noted. “I thought he had a improved week, but we’re handling it one day at a time. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the guys that give us the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir led the Bills with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
Allen was disappointed that the team were unable to make plays down the stretch.
In the end, we must execute, and we failed to succeed of that tonight,” he said. “Whatever situation and whatever circumstance, we need to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
