Very little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a tough contest on Thursday evening against the Texans.
And still he nearly managed to willing the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an late pick in the final minute sealed their fate in a close loss.
The quarterback endured back-to-back sacks on the team's last drive, leading to a long fourth down, but Buffalo (with seven wins) gained 44 yards on a quick throw from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a lateral to another teammate.
Following a pre-snap infraction created a fourth down situation for Buffalo, a Texans defender intercepted Allen’s pass at the 9-yard line with under half a minute left.
We possessed a opportunity to win it there at the end,” Josh Allen said. “We did a solid job of staying in it and our defense saved us a couple of times. We must find a way, and we didn’t.”
Proved difficult for Allen to get anything going on a evening he was brought down a career-high eight times and hit four other times. The QB threw for 253 yards with two interceptions and zero scores after accounting for six touchdowns in a win over the Buccaneers the previous week.
“When they pressure our QB 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott said. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It is not a safe way to compete and it isn't a good way to preserve our quarterback in good shape for the remaining games. We’ve got to improve our performance.”
Josh Allen was slow to rise after a sack in the opening two quarters. He said he was OK and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being contacted so frequently on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I encountered a couple myself. I need to be better at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I found myself losing ground.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half 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 Anderson rose and chased him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt in the third quarter.
Buffalo played for a second consecutive matchup absent receiver Keon Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was late to a team meeting before their last game. He was earlier benched for the opening drive of a defeat to the Patriots in the fifth week after also being late for a team session.
“Nothing new. We’re just approaching it one day at a time,” the coach said. “I felt he had a better week, but we’re taking it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we went with the players that provide the optimal opportunity.”
Khalil Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 yards and Cook had 116 yards and a score.
Allen was disappointed that the Bills couldn’t make plays down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we must execute, and we failed to succeed of that tonight,” he concluded. “Whatever situation and any condition, we need to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
