Very little went well for the Bills' quarterback in a frustrating contest Thursday night versus the Houston Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to willing the Bills to a win before an interception in the final minute ended their hopes in a close defeat.
Allen endured consecutive sacks on the team's final possession, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (7-4) picked up significant yardage on a quick throw from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a lateral to Khalil Shakir.
Following a pre-snap infraction created a fourth down situation for the Bills, Calen Bullock picked off the quarterback's throw at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds remaining.
We possessed a chance to win it there at the conclusion,” Allen said. “Our team performed a solid job of staying in it and our defense saved us a few instances. We must find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was tough for Allen to establish rhythm on a night he was brought down a personal-worst eight times and hit four other times. The QB passed for 253 yards with two interceptions and zero scores after producing six TDs in a win over the Buccaneers the previous week.
“When they pressure our quarterback 12 times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It is not a healthy way to play and it’s not a good way to keep our quarterback healthy for the rest of the season. We’ve got to play better.”
Josh Allen was sluggish to get up after a sack in the first half. He indicated he was fine and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being contacted so many times on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I encountered a couple personally. I need to be more effective at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I found myself going backwards.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Anderson had two and a half sacks to top the Texans. Another sack occurred when he almost sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped 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 absent wideout Keon Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was late to a team meeting before their last game. He was previously benched for the opening drive of a loss to the Patriots in Week 5 after additionally being late for a meeting.
No change. We’re just taking it one day at a time,” the coach said. “I thought he had a improved week, but we’re handling it one day at a time. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the guys that provide the optimal opportunity.”
Khalil Shakir topped the Bills with eight catches for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
Allen was disappointed that the team were unable to make plays down the stretch.
In the end, we’ve got execute, and we failed to do a good job of that tonight,” he said. “Whatever scenario and whatever condition, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we came up short.”
