Little went well for Josh Allen in a disappointing game Thursday night against the Houston Texans.
Yet he came close to driving the Bills to a victory before an late pick in the final minute ended their hopes in a close defeat.
Allen took back-to-back sacks on the Bills’ last drive, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (with seven wins) gained 44 yards on a quick throw from Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.
Following a pre-snap infraction created a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, Calen Bullock picked off Allen’s throw at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds remaining.
We possessed a opportunity to win it there at the end,” Josh Allen said. “We did a good job of staying in it and our defense saved us a couple of times. We’ve got find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was tough for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a evening he was brought down a career-high eight times and pressured four additional instances. Allen passed for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after accounting for six TDs in a victory over Tampa Bay the previous week.
Whenever they hit our quarterback a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach Sean McDermott commented. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It’s just not a healthy way to compete and it isn't a good way to preserve our quarterback healthy for the rest of the season. We need to play better.”
Allen was sluggish to rise after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He said he was OK and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being hit so many times during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I encountered a few myself. I’ve got to be more effective at disposing of the football. Too many times, I found myself going backwards.”
The Bills' QB surrendered 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had 2.5 tackles for loss to lead the Texans. Another sack occurred when he nearly sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and the defender got up and pursued him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt in the third quarter.
Buffalo competed for a second consecutive matchup without receiver Keon Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was late to a squad gathering before their last game. He was earlier benched for the first series of a defeat to New England in Week 5 after additionally being delayed for a meeting.
No change. We are taking it day by day,” McDermott said. “I thought he had a improved week, but we’re handling it step by step. It was not that it was ignored, but we opted for the guys that provide the best chance.”
Khalil Shakir topped the Bills with eight receptions for 110 yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
Allen was disappointed that the Bills couldn’t make plays in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we must perform, and we failed to do a good job of that tonight,” he said. “Whatever situation and any circumstance, we’ve got to find a way, and we came up short.”
