Little went well for the Bills' quarterback in a frustrating contest Thursday night against the Houston Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to driving the Bills to a win before an interception in the final minute sealed their fate in a close defeat.
The quarterback took back-to-back tackles for loss on the team's last drive, leading to a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (with seven wins) picked up significant yardage on a short pass from Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a lateral to Khalil Shakir.
Following a false-start penalty led to a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, a Texans defender picked off Allen’s throw at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds remaining.
We possessed a opportunity to win it there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen stated. “Our team performed a good job of staying in it and our defensive unit bailed us out a couple of times. We must find a way, and we didn’t.”
It was difficult for Allen to get anything going on a night he was sacked a personal-worst on eight occasions and hit four additional instances. The QB threw for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after producing six TDs in a win over Tampa Bay the previous week.
“When they hit our QB 12 times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach Sean McDermott commented. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It’s just not a safe way to play and it’s not a good way to preserve our field general in good shape for the rest of the season. We’ve got to play better.”
Josh Allen was sluggish to rise after a sack in the first half. He said he was OK and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being contacted so frequently during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I encountered a few personally. I need to be better at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I found myself going backwards.”
Allen lost 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 sacks to lead the Texans. His second one came when he almost sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and Anderson got up and pursued 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 wideout Keon Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was tardy to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was previously benched for the opening drive of a defeat to the Patriots in the fifth week after additionally being delayed for a team session.
“Nothing new. We are taking it one day at a time,” the coach noted. “I thought he had a improved week, but we’re taking it one day at a time. It was not 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 touchdown.
The quarterback was disappointed that the Bills couldn’t make plays in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we’ve got execute, and we didn’t succeed of that this evening,” he said. “Whatever situation and any circumstance, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
