Little went right for the Bills' quarterback in a tough contest Thursday night against the Texans.
Yet he came close to willing the Bills to a win before an late pick in the last moments ended their hopes in a 23-19 defeat.
Allen endured back-to-back sacks on the Bills’ last drive, leading to a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (7-4) picked up 44 yards on a quick throw from Josh Allen to a receiver, who flipped a lateral to another teammate.
After a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, Calen Bullock intercepted Allen’s throw at the Houston 9 with under half a minute left.
“We had a chance to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen stated. “Our team performed a solid job of hanging tough and our defensive unit bailed us out a couple of times. We must find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was tough for Allen to establish rhythm on a evening he was sacked a career-high on eight occasions and pressured four other times. Allen passed for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after accounting for six touchdowns in a win over the Buccaneers last week.
“When they pressure our QB 12 times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach McDermott said. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It is not a healthy way to compete and it isn't a smart way to preserve our field general healthy 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 landed on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being hit so many times during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I ran into a few personally. I need to be better at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I found myself losing ground.”
Allen lost 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half sacks to top the Houston defense. His second one occurred when he almost took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and Anderson rose and chased him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt early in the third.
The Bills competed for a second straight game absent receiver Keon 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 opening drive of a defeat to New England in Week 5 after also being late for a team session.
No change. We are taking it day by day,” McDermott noted. “I thought he had a improved week, but we are handling it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we went with the guys that give us the optimal opportunity.”
Khalil Shakir topped the Bills with eight receptions for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
Allen was disappointed that the Bills were unable to make plays down the stretch.
In the end, we’ve got perform, and we didn’t succeed of that tonight,” he concluded. “No matter the situation and whatever circumstance, we need to find a way, and we came up short.”
