Little went well for Josh Allen in a tough game on Thursday evening against the Houston Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to driving the Bills to a win before an late pick in the last moments ended their hopes in a 23-19 defeat.
Allen endured consecutive tackles for loss on the team's final possession, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (7-4) gained significant yardage on a short pass from Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a lateral to Khalil Shakir.
Following a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth down situation for Buffalo, a Texans defender picked off the quarterback's pass at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds remaining.
We possessed a chance to win it there at the end,” Allen stated. “Our team performed a good job of staying in it and our defense bailed us out a couple of times. We’ve got figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was difficult for Allen to establish rhythm on a evening he was brought down a career-high on eight occasions and hit four other times. Allen passed for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after accounting for six touchdowns in a victory over Tampa Bay last week.
Whenever they hit our QB 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach McDermott said. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It is not a healthy way to compete and it isn't a smart way to keep our field general in good shape for the remaining games. We’ve got to improve our performance.”
Allen was sluggish to rise after a sack in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was fine and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being hit so frequently on Thursday.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I encountered a few personally. I need to be better at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I found myself going backwards.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Anderson had 2.5 tackles for loss to lead the Houston defense. Another sack came when he nearly sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and the defender rose and chased him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt early in the third.
Buffalo competed for a second straight game without wideout Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was tardy to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was previously benched for the first series of a loss to New England in Week 5 after additionally being delayed for a meeting.
“Nothing new. We’re just approaching it one day at a time,” the coach said. “I felt he had a improved week, but we are taking it step by step. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the players that provide the best chance.”
Shakir topped the Bills with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.
Allen was frustrated that the team couldn’t make plays in crucial moments.
In the end, we must execute, and we failed to succeed of that tonight,” he concluded. “Whatever scenario and whatever circumstance, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”
