Very little went well for Josh Allen in a disappointing contest Thursday night versus the Texans.
Yet he came close to driving the Bills to a win before an late pick in the final minute ended their hopes in a close defeat.
The quarterback endured consecutive tackles for loss on the team's final possession, resulting in a long fourth down, but the Bills (7-4) gained significant yardage on a quick throw from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a backward pass to another teammate.
After a pre-snap infraction created a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, a Texans defender intercepted Allen’s pass at the 9-yard line with under half a minute remaining.
“We had a opportunity to come out on top there at the end,” Josh Allen stated. “Our team performed a solid job of staying in it and our defense bailed us out a few instances. We must find a way, and we didn’t.”
It was tough for the signal-caller to get anything going on a evening he was sacked a career-high on eight occasions and hit four other times. The QB passed for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after accounting for six TDs in a win over the Buccaneers last week.
“When they pressure our QB a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott said. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It is not a safe way to play and it isn't a good way to keep our quarterback healthy for the remaining games. We need to improve our performance.”
Allen was slow to rise after a sack in the first half. He indicated he was OK and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being contacted so frequently on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I ran into a couple myself. I need to be more effective at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I was losing ground.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had 2.5 tackles for loss to lead the Texans. His second one occurred when he almost sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and the defender got up and chased him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt early in the third.
The Bills played for a second consecutive matchup absent receiver Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was late to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was previously held out for the opening drive of a defeat to the Patriots in the fifth week after additionally being delayed for a meeting.
No change. We’re just approaching it day by day,” the coach noted. “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 Bills with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
Allen was frustrated that the Bills couldn’t execute in crucial moments.
In the end, we’ve got execute, and we didn’t do a good job of that this evening,” he concluded. “Whatever situation and any condition, we need to find a way, and we didn’t.”
