Very little went well for Josh Allen in a disappointing game on Thursday evening versus the Houston Texans.
And still he came close to driving the Buffalo Bills to a win before an late pick in the final minute ended their hopes in a 23-19 loss.
The quarterback endured consecutive sacks on the team's final possession, leading to a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (7-4) picked up 44 yards on a short pass from Allen to a receiver, who flipped a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.
Following a pre-snap infraction created a fourth down situation for the Bills, a Texans defender intercepted Allen’s throw at the Houston 9 with under half a minute remaining.
“We had a chance to win it there at the end,” Allen said. “Our team performed a good job of staying in it and our defensive unit bailed us out a few instances. We’ve got find a way, and we didn’t.”
It was tough for Allen to establish rhythm on a night he was brought down a career-high on eight occasions and pressured four other times. The QB threw for 253 yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after accounting for six TDs in a victory over Tampa Bay the previous week.
“When they pressure our quarterback a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It’s just not a healthy way to compete and it isn't a smart way to keep our quarterback in good shape for the remaining games. We’ve got to play better.”
Josh Allen was sluggish to get up after a tackle in the first half. He said he was OK and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being contacted so frequently during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I encountered a couple personally. I’ve got to be more effective at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I was losing ground.”
Allen surrendered 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had two and a half sacks to top the Texans. Another sack came when he almost sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and Anderson got up and chased him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt early in the third.
Buffalo played for a second consecutive matchup without receiver Keon Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was late to a team meeting before their last game. He was previously held out for the opening drive 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,” McDermott said. “I felt he had a better week, but we are handling it step by step. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the players that give us the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight catches for 110 yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
Allen was disappointed that the Bills were unable to execute in crucial moments.
In the end, we must perform, and we didn’t succeed of that this evening,” he concluded. “No matter the situation and whatever circumstance, we’ve got to find a way, and we came up short.”
