Very little went well for the Bills' quarterback in a tough game on Thursday evening versus the Texans.
And still he nearly managed to driving the Bills to a win before an late pick in the final minute ended their hopes in a close defeat.
The quarterback took back-to-back 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 flipped a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.
After a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, a Texans defender intercepted the quarterback's pass at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds left.
We possessed a chance to win it there at the end,” Josh Allen stated. “Our team performed a solid job of hanging tough and our defense saved us a few instances. We must find a way, and we didn’t.”
It was tough for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a night he was brought down a career-high on eight occasions and pressured four additional instances. Allen passed for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after accounting for six TDs in a win over the Buccaneers the previous week.
Whenever they pressure our quarterback a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott said. “I don’t like that stat at all. It is not a healthy way to compete and it isn't a good way to keep our quarterback in good shape for the remaining games. We need to improve our performance.”
Allen was sluggish to rise after a tackle in the first half. He indicated he was fine and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was asked about being hit so many times on Thursday.
“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I ran into a couple myself. I’ve got to be better at disposing of the football. Too many times, I found myself losing ground.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had two and a half tackles for loss to lead the Houston defense. Another sack came when he almost took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and Anderson got up and chased him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt early in the third.
The Bills competed for a second consecutive matchup absent wideout Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was late to a team meeting before their last game. He was earlier held out for the opening drive of a defeat to the Patriots in Week 5 after also being delayed for a meeting.
“Nothing new. We are taking it day by day,” McDermott noted. “I felt he had a better 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 give us the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
Allen was frustrated that the team were unable to execute in crucial moments.
In the end, we’ve got execute, and we failed to succeed of that tonight,” he concluded. “No matter the scenario and any condition, we need to find a way, and we came up short.”
