Very little went right for Josh Allen in a disappointing game Thursday night against the Texans.
And still he came close to willing the Bills to a victory before an late pick in the final minute sealed their fate in a close defeat.
The quarterback took back-to-back sacks on the Bills’ last drive, resulting in a long fourth down, but Buffalo (with seven wins) picked up significant yardage on a quick throw from Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a lateral to another teammate.
After a false-start penalty led to a fourth down situation for the Bills, Calen Bullock intercepted Allen’s throw at the Houston 9 with under half a minute remaining.
“We had a opportunity to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Allen stated. “Our team performed a solid job of hanging tough and our defense saved us a few instances. We’ve got figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”
Proved tough for Allen to establish rhythm on a night he was sacked a career-high eight times and pressured four other times. Allen threw for 253 yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after producing six touchdowns in a victory over Tampa Bay last week.
“When they pressure our quarterback a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach 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 preserve our field general healthy for the remaining games. We need to improve our performance.”
Josh Allen was sluggish to rise after a sack in the first half. He said he was fine and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was asked about being contacted so frequently during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I encountered a few personally. I’ve got to be more effective at disposing of the football. Too many times, I was losing ground.”
Allen surrendered 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Anderson had two and a half sacks to lead the Houston defense. His second one came when he almost took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and the defender rose and chased him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt early in the third.
The Bills competed for a second straight game without 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 also being late for a meeting.
“Nothing new. We are approaching it one day at a time,” the coach said. “I thought he had a improved week, but we are handling it step by step. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we opted for the players that provide the best chance.”
Shakir topped the Bills with eight catches for 110 yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
The quarterback was disappointed that the Bills couldn’t make plays down the stretch.
In the end, we’ve got execute, and we failed to succeed of that tonight,” he concluded. “No matter the situation and whatever circumstance, we need to discover a solution, and we came up short.”