Little went right for the Bills' quarterback in a frustrating game on Thursday evening versus the Houston Texans.
And still he nearly managed to driving the Bills to a victory before an late pick in the last moments sealed their fate in a 23-19 loss.
The quarterback took back-to-back tackles for loss on the Bills’ final possession, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (7-4) gained significant yardage on a short pass from Allen to a receiver, who tossed a backward pass to another teammate.
Following a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, Calen Bullock intercepted Allen’s throw at the 9-yard line with under half a minute left.
“We had a opportunity to win it there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen stated. “Our team performed a solid job of staying in it and our defensive unit bailed us out a few instances. We must find a way, and we didn’t.”
It was tough for the signal-caller to get anything going on a night he was brought down a personal-worst on eight occasions and hit four other times. The QB threw for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after accounting for six touchdowns in a victory over the Buccaneers last week.
“When they pressure our QB a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It is not a healthy way to compete and it’s not a good way to preserve our quarterback in good shape for the rest of the season. We need to play better.”
Josh Allen was sluggish to get up after a tackle in the first half. He said he was fine and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being contacted so frequently on Thursday.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I encountered a few myself. I’ve got to be better at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I was losing ground.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 sacks to lead the Houston defense. His second one came when he nearly took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and the defender got up and chased him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt in the third quarter.
Buffalo played for a second straight game without receiver Keon Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was late to a team meeting before their last game. He was previously held out for the first series of a loss to New England in the fifth week after additionally being delayed for a team session.
“Nothing new. We are taking it day by day,” the coach noted. “I felt he had a better week, but we’re handling it step by step. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the players that provide the best chance.”
Khalil Shakir led the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
The quarterback was disappointed that the Bills were unable to execute in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we’ve got perform, and we didn’t do a good job of that tonight,” he concluded. “Whatever situation and whatever condition, we need to discover a solution, and we came up short.”
