Very little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a frustrating game Thursday night against the Houston Texans.
And still he nearly managed to driving the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an late pick in the last moments ended their hopes in a close defeat.
Allen took consecutive tackles for loss on the team's final possession, resulting in a long fourth down, but Buffalo (7-4) picked up 44 yards on a short pass from Josh Allen to a receiver, who flipped a backward pass to another teammate.
After a false-start penalty created a fourth down situation for Buffalo, a Texans defender intercepted Allen’s pass at the 9-yard line with under half a minute left.
“We had a opportunity to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Allen said. “Our team performed a good job of hanging tough and our defense 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 night he was brought down a personal-worst eight times and pressured four other times. The QB passed for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and zero scores after producing six touchdowns in a victory over Tampa Bay last week.
“When they pressure our QB 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach Sean McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It is not a healthy way to play and it’s not a good way to keep our field general healthy for the remaining games. We’ve got to improve our performance.”
Allen was slow to get up after a sack in the first half. He indicated he was fine and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being contacted so many times during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I encountered 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 lost 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half sacks to lead the Texans. Another sack occurred when he nearly sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and Anderson rose and pursued him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to force 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 previously benched for the opening drive of a loss to the Patriots in the fifth week after additionally being late for a meeting.
No change. We’re just taking it one day at a time,” McDermott noted. “I thought he had a improved week, but we’re handling it step by step. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the players that provide the best chance.”
Khalil Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.
The quarterback was frustrated that the team were unable to execute down the stretch.
In the end, we’ve got perform, and we failed to succeed of that tonight,” he concluded. “Whatever scenario and whatever condition, we need to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
