Little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a frustrating contest Thursday night against the Texans.
And still he nearly managed to willing the Bills to a victory before an late pick in the final minute sealed their fate in a 23-19 defeat.
The quarterback took consecutive tackles for loss on the team's last drive, leading to a long fourth down, but Buffalo (with seven wins) picked up significant yardage on a short pass from Allen to a receiver, who tossed a lateral to another teammate.
After a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth down situation for the Bills, a Texans defender picked off the quarterback's throw at the 9-yard line with under half a minute left.
We possessed a chance to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Allen said. “We did a solid job of hanging tough and our defense saved us a few instances. We’ve got find a way, and we didn’t.”
It was tough for the signal-caller to get anything going on a evening he was sacked a personal-worst eight times and hit four other times. Allen passed for 253 yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after accounting for six touchdowns in a win over the Buccaneers the previous week.
“When they hit our QB 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach McDermott commented. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It is not a safe way to play and it’s not a good way to preserve our field general in good shape for the remaining games. We’ve got to improve our performance.”
Josh Allen was sluggish to get up after a tackle in the first half. He said he was fine and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being contacted so many times during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I encountered a few myself. I need to be more effective at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I was going backwards.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 tackles for loss to lead the Texans. Another sack occurred when he almost took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and Anderson rose and chased him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt in the third quarter.
Buffalo played for a second consecutive matchup without wideout Keon Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was tardy to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was earlier held out for the first series of a defeat to the Patriots in Week 5 after also being late for a team session.
“Nothing new. We are taking it day by day,” the coach noted. “I felt he had a improved week, but we’re taking it one day at a time. It was not that it was ignored, but we opted for the players that provide the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir led the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
The quarterback was frustrated that the Bills were unable to execute down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we’ve got perform, and we failed to succeed 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.”
