Very little went well for the Bills' quarterback in a tough game Thursday night versus the Houston Texans.
Yet he came close to driving the Buffalo Bills to a win before an interception in the final minute ended their hopes in a 23-19 loss.
The quarterback took back-to-back tackles for loss on the team's final possession, leading to a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (7-4) picked up significant yardage on a short pass from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a lateral to Khalil Shakir.
After a pre-snap infraction created a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, Calen Bullock intercepted the quarterback's throw at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds left.
We possessed a opportunity to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen stated. “Our team performed a solid job of hanging tough and our defense saved us a few instances. We must figure it out, and we didn’t.”
It was tough for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a night he was sacked a career-high eight times and hit four additional instances. Allen passed for 253 yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after producing six TDs in a victory over the Buccaneers last week.
“When they pressure our quarterback a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott said. “I don’t like that stat at all. It is not a healthy way to compete and it’s not a smart way to preserve our quarterback healthy for the rest of the season. We’ve got to improve our performance.”
Allen was slow to rise after a tackle in the first half. He indicated he was fine and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being hit so many times on Thursday.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I ran into a few personally. I need to be better at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I found myself going backwards.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half sacks to top the Texans. Another sack came when he nearly took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away 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.
Buffalo competed for a second straight game absent wideout Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was tardy to a team meeting before their last game. He was previously benched for the opening drive of a defeat to the Patriots in the fifth week after additionally being late for a meeting.
No change. We are taking it one day at a time,” McDermott noted. “I thought he had a improved week, but we’re handling it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the guys that give us the optimal opportunity.”
Khalil Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
Allen was disappointed that the team couldn’t make plays in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we’ve got execute, and we didn’t succeed of that this evening,” he said. “No matter the scenario and whatever circumstance, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”
