Very little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a tough game on Thursday evening against the Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to willing the Bills to a victory before an interception in the final minute ended their hopes in a close loss.
Allen took back-to-back sacks on the team's final possession, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (with seven wins) picked up 44 yards on a quick throw from Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a backward pass to another teammate.
After a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth down situation for Buffalo, a Texans defender picked off Allen’s pass at the 9-yard line with under half a minute remaining.
We possessed a chance to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen said. “Our team performed 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.”
Proved difficult for the signal-caller to get anything going on a night he was sacked a career-high on eight occasions and hit four additional instances. Allen threw for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after producing six touchdowns in a win over Tampa Bay last week.
“When they pressure our QB 12 times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It is not a safe way to compete and it’s not a smart way to preserve our field general healthy for the remaining games. We need to play better.”
Allen was slow to rise after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was OK and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being hit so many times on Thursday.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I ran into a few myself. I need to be better at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I was going backwards.”
The Bills' QB surrendered 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Anderson had 2.5 tackles for loss to lead the Texans. Another sack occurred when he nearly took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and Anderson got up and chased him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt in the third quarter.
Buffalo played for a second consecutive matchup without receiver Keon Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was late to a squad gathering before their last game. He was earlier held out for the first series of a loss to New England in the fifth week after additionally being delayed for a team session.
“Nothing new. We are taking it one day at a time,” the coach said. “I thought he had a improved week, but we’re handling it step by step. 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 catches for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.
Allen was disappointed that the team were unable to make plays in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we’ve got execute, and we didn’t do a good job of that tonight,” he said. “Whatever situation and whatever condition, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”
