Little went right for Josh Allen in a frustrating contest Thursday night against the Texans.
Yet he came close to willing the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an late pick in the final minute ended their hopes in a 23-19 defeat.
The quarterback took consecutive sacks on the Bills’ final possession, leading to a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (with seven wins) gained significant yardage on a quick throw from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a backward pass to another teammate.
Following a false-start penalty led to a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, a Texans defender intercepted Allen’s throw at the Houston 9 with under half a minute left.
We possessed a chance to come out on top there at the end,” Allen stated. “We did a solid job of hanging tough and our defensive unit saved us a couple of times. We’ve got find a way, and we didn’t.”
Proved tough for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a night he was brought down a personal-worst on eight occasions and hit four other times. Allen threw for 253 yards with a pair of picks 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 McDermott said. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It is not a healthy way to play and it isn't a good way to keep our field general healthy for the rest of the season. We’ve got to play better.”
Josh Allen was slow to get up after a sack in the first half. He indicated he was fine and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being hit so many times during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I encountered a couple personally. I need to be more effective at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I was going backwards.”
The Bills' QB surrendered 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Anderson had two and a half tackles for loss to lead 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 pursued him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt early in the third.
Buffalo competed for a second straight game absent wideout Keon Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was late to a team meeting before their last game. He was earlier held out for the opening drive of a defeat to New England in Week 5 after additionally being late for a meeting.
“Nothing new. We are taking it day by day,” McDermott said. “I thought he had a better week, but we are handling it one day at a time. It was not that it was ignored, but we opted for the players that give us the best chance.”
Khalil Shakir led the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
Allen was frustrated that the Bills were unable to make plays down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we’ve got execute, and we failed to do a good job of that this evening,” he said. “Whatever scenario and whatever condition, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”
