Very little clicked for Josh Allen in a tough contest Thursday night versus the Houston Texans.
And still he came close to driving the Bills to a win before an interception in the final minute ended their hopes in a close defeat.
Allen endured back-to-back sacks on the team's final possession, leading to a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (7-4) picked up significant yardage on a quick throw from Allen to a receiver, who tossed a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.
Following a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth down situation for the Bills, a Texans defender picked off the quarterback's pass at the 9-yard line with under half a minute left.
We possessed a opportunity to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen stated. “We did a solid job of staying in it and our defense saved us a couple of times. We’ve got find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
Proved difficult for the signal-caller to get anything going on a evening he was sacked a career-high eight times and pressured four additional instances. The QB passed for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after producing six touchdowns in a victory over Tampa Bay last week.
“When they hit our quarterback a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It’s just not a healthy way to compete and it isn't a smart way to keep our quarterback in good shape for the rest of the season. We need to play better.”
Josh Allen was sluggish to get up after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was OK and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being contacted so many times on Thursday.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I encountered a couple personally. I’ve got to be better at disposing of the football. Too many times, I was losing ground.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 sacks to top the Houston defense. Another sack occurred when he almost took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and Anderson rose and pursued him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt in the third quarter.
Buffalo played for a second consecutive matchup absent receiver Keon Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was late to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was previously benched for the first series of a defeat to New England in Week 5 after additionally being late for a team session.
“Nothing new. We are taking it one day at a time,” the coach noted. “I felt he had a better week, but we are handling it step by step. It was not that it was ignored, but we opted for the guys that provide the best chance.”
Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight catches for 110 yards and Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.
The quarterback was disappointed that the Bills were unable to execute down the stretch.
In the end, we must execute, and we didn’t succeed of that this evening,” he concluded. “No matter the situation and any condition, we need to find a way, and we came up short.”
