Little went well for the Bills' quarterback in a frustrating game on Thursday evening against the Houston Texans.
Yet he came close to driving the Bills to a win before an late pick in the last moments ended their hopes in a close defeat.
Allen took back-to-back sacks on the Bills’ final possession, leading to a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (7-4) picked up 44 yards on a short pass from Josh Allen to a receiver, who tossed a lateral to another teammate.
Following a false-start penalty created a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, Calen Bullock intercepted Allen’s throw at the 9-yard line with under half a minute remaining.
We possessed a chance to win it there at the conclusion,” Allen stated. “We did a good job of staying in it and our defense bailed us out a few instances. We’ve got find a way, and we didn’t.”
Proved tough for Allen to get anything going on a night he was sacked a career-high eight times and pressured four additional instances. Allen passed for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after accounting for six touchdowns in a win over the Buccaneers last week.
Whenever they pressure our quarterback a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It’s just not a healthy way to play and it’s not a smart way to keep our quarterback healthy for the remaining games. We’ve got to play better.”
Allen was slow to rise after a tackle in the first half. He indicated he was OK and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being hit so many times during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I ran into a couple myself. I need to be better at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I was losing ground.”
Allen lost 70 yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 sacks to lead the Houston defense. Another sack occurred when he almost took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and the defender rose and chased him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt in the third quarter.
The Bills competed for a second straight game without receiver Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was late to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was earlier held out for the opening drive of a loss to the Patriots in the fifth week after also being delayed for a meeting.
“Nothing new. We’re just taking it one day at a time,” McDermott said. “I felt he had a improved week, but we are taking it step by step. It was not that it was ignored, but we went with the guys that give us the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight catches for 110 yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
The quarterback was disappointed that the Bills were unable to execute down the stretch.
In the end, we must execute, and we failed to do a good job of that tonight,” he said. “Whatever scenario and any circumstance, we need to find a way, and we didn’t.”
