Little went well for Josh Allen in a tough contest on Thursday evening versus the Texans.
Yet he came close to willing the Buffalo Bills to a win before an interception in the last moments ended their hopes in a 23-19 defeat.
Allen endured consecutive sacks on the team's final possession, leading to a long fourth down, but the Bills (with seven wins) picked up significant yardage on a short pass from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.
Following a false-start penalty led to a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, Calen Bullock picked off the quarterback's throw at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds left.
“We had a opportunity to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Allen stated. “Our team performed a good job of hanging tough and our defensive unit bailed us out a few instances. We’ve got find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was tough for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a evening he was brought down a career-high eight times and pressured four additional instances. The QB threw for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after producing six TDs in a win over the Buccaneers the previous week.
“When they pressure our QB a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach McDermott said. “I don’t like that stat at all. It is not a safe way to compete and it isn't a smart way to preserve our quarterback in good shape for the rest of the season. We need to improve our performance.”
Josh Allen was slow to rise after a sack in the opening two quarters. He said he was fine and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being hit so frequently on Thursday.
“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I ran into a few myself. I need to be more effective at disposing of the football. Too many times, I found myself losing ground.”
The Bills' QB surrendered 70 yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 sacks to lead the Texans. Another sack occurred when he nearly took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and the defender rose and chased him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt early in the third.
The Bills competed for a second consecutive matchup without receiver Keon Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their last game. He was earlier benched for the opening drive of a loss to the Patriots in the fifth week after also being delayed for a team session.
“Nothing new. We are approaching it day by day,” the coach said. “I felt he had a improved week, but we are handling it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we opted for the guys that give us the best chance.”
Khalil Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
Allen was disappointed that the Bills couldn’t make plays in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we must perform, and we didn’t do a good job of that tonight,” he concluded. “No matter the situation and whatever circumstance, we need to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
