Little went well for Josh Allen in a tough game Thursday night versus the Houston Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to willing the Bills to a victory before an late pick in the final minute ended their hopes in a close defeat.
Allen endured back-to-back sacks on the Bills’ final possession, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (7-4) gained significant yardage on a quick throw from Allen to a receiver, who tossed a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.
After a pre-snap infraction created a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, a Texans defender picked off Allen’s throw at the 9-yard line with under half a minute remaining.
“We had a opportunity to win it there at the end,” Allen said. “Our team performed a good job of staying in it and our defensive unit saved us a couple of times. We’ve got find a way, and we didn’t.”
It was tough for Allen to get anything going on a evening he was sacked a personal-worst eight times and hit four additional instances. The QB passed for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and zero scores after accounting for six TDs in a victory over the Buccaneers last week.
“When they pressure our quarterback a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It is not a healthy way to compete and it isn't a smart way to preserve our quarterback healthy for the remaining games. We need to play better.”
Josh Allen was sluggish to rise after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was fine and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being hit so many times on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I ran into a couple myself. I need to be better at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I found myself going backwards.”
Allen lost 70 yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had 2.5 sacks to lead the Houston defense. His second one occurred when he nearly took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and Anderson got up and pursued him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt in the third quarter.
Buffalo competed for a second consecutive matchup absent receiver Keon Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was previously held out for the first series of a defeat to the Patriots in the fifth week after additionally being late for a meeting.
No change. We are approaching it day by day,” the coach noted. “I thought he had a better week, but we’re handling it one day at a time. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the players that give us the best chance.”
Shakir led the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
The quarterback was frustrated that the Bills were unable to make plays down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we’ve got perform, and we failed to do a good job of that this evening,” he concluded. “No matter the situation and any circumstance, we’ve got to find a way, and we came up short.”
