Little went well for Josh Allen in a tough contest on Thursday evening versus the Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to willing the Bills to a win before an late pick in the last moments ended their hopes in a close defeat.
The quarterback endured back-to-back sacks on the Bills’ final possession, resulting in a long fourth down, but Buffalo (with seven wins) gained 44 yards on a quick throw from Allen to a receiver, who tossed a backward pass to another teammate.
Following a false-start penalty led to a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, Calen Bullock intercepted Allen’s throw at the Houston 9 with under half a minute remaining.
We possessed a chance to win it there at the end,” Josh Allen stated. “We did a good job of staying in it and our defensive unit saved us a couple of times. We must find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was tough for Allen to establish rhythm on a evening he was sacked a career-high on eight occasions and hit four other times. The QB threw for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after accounting for six touchdowns in a win over Tampa Bay last week.
Whenever they hit our quarterback 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott commented. “I don’t like that stat at all. It is not a healthy way to play and it isn't a smart way to preserve our quarterback in good shape for the remaining games. We need to improve our performance.”
Allen was slow to rise after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He said he was fine and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being hit so many times on Thursday.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I ran into a couple myself. I’ve got to be more effective at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I was losing ground.”
Allen surrendered 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Anderson had 2.5 tackles for loss to lead the Houston defense. His second one came 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 drop him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt early in the third.
Buffalo played for a second straight game absent wideout Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a team meeting before their last game. He was previously benched for the opening drive of a defeat to New England in Week 5 after also being delayed for a meeting.
No change. We’re just approaching it one day at a time,” the coach noted. “I felt he had a better week, but we are handling it one day at a time. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the guys that provide the best chance.”
Khalil Shakir led the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 yards and Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.
The quarterback was disappointed that the team were unable to make plays down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we must perform, and we didn’t do a good job of that tonight,” he concluded. “Whatever scenario and any condition, we’ve got to find a way, and we came up short.”
