Little clicked for Josh Allen in a tough game Thursday night against the Houston Texans.
And still he came close to willing the Bills to a win before an late pick in the final minute ended their hopes in a close loss.
Allen endured consecutive tackles for loss on the Bills’ last drive, resulting in a long fourth down, but Buffalo (7-4) picked up 44 yards on a quick throw from Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.
After a pre-snap infraction created a fourth down situation for Buffalo, a Texans defender intercepted the quarterback's throw at the Houston 9 with under half a minute left.
We possessed a chance to win it there at the end,” Allen said. “We did a solid job of staying in it and our defense bailed us out a couple of times. We must figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”
Proved difficult for Allen to establish rhythm on a night he was brought down a career-high on eight occasions and pressured four additional instances. Allen threw for 253 yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after producing six TDs in a victory over the Buccaneers last week.
“When they pressure our QB 12 times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It’s just not a safe way to compete and it’s not a good way to keep our field general in good shape for the remaining games. We’ve got to play better.”
Josh Allen was sluggish to rise after a sack in the opening two quarters. He said he was fine and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being contacted so frequently on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I encountered a few myself. I’ve got to be more effective at disposing of the football. Too many times, I found myself losing ground.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 tackles for loss to top the Texans. His second one occurred when he nearly sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and Anderson got up and chased him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt in the third quarter.
Buffalo played for a second consecutive matchup absent wideout Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was late to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was earlier benched for the opening drive of a defeat to New England in the fifth week after additionally being late for a team session.
No change. We’re just approaching it one day at a time,” the coach noted. “I felt he had a better week, but we’re handling it step by step. It wasn’t 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 rushing yards and a score.
The quarterback was disappointed that the team were unable to make plays in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we must perform, and we didn’t succeed of that this evening,” he concluded. “No matter the situation and any condition, we’ve got to find a way, and we came up short.”
