Very little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a tough game Thursday night against the Houston Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to willing the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an interception in the last moments sealed their fate in a 23-19 loss.
The quarterback endured consecutive sacks on the Bills’ final possession, leading to a long fourth down, but Buffalo (with seven wins) picked up significant yardage on a quick throw from Allen to a receiver, who tossed a lateral to another teammate.
Following a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, Calen Bullock picked off the quarterback's pass at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds remaining.
“We had a chance to win it there at the end,” Allen said. “We did a good job of hanging tough and our defensive unit bailed us out a few instances. We must 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 hit four other times. The QB passed for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after producing six TDs in a win over the Buccaneers the previous week.
“When they pressure our quarterback 12 times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott said. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It is not a safe way to play and it’s not a good way to preserve our field general healthy for the rest of the season. We’ve got to play better.”
Josh Allen was slow to rise after a sack in the first half. He said he was OK and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was asked about being contacted so frequently on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I encountered a few personally. I need to be more effective at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I was losing ground.”
Allen lost 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. 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 the defender rose and pursued him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt early in the third.
Buffalo competed for a second straight game without wideout Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was earlier benched for the opening drive of a loss to the Patriots in Week 5 after additionally being late for a meeting.
No change. We are approaching it one day at a time,” the coach said. “I thought he had a better week, but we’re taking it step by step. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we opted for the guys that provide the best chance.”
Khalil Shakir topped the Bills with eight catches for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a score.
Allen was frustrated that the team couldn’t execute in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we’ve got execute, and we didn’t do a good job of that tonight,” he concluded. “No matter the situation and any condition, we need to find a way, and we came up short.”
