Little went right for Josh Allen in a disappointing game Thursday night against the Houston Texans.
And still he came close to driving the Bills to a win before an interception in the last moments sealed their fate in a close loss.
The quarterback endured back-to-back tackles for loss on the Bills’ final possession, leading to a long fourth down, but Buffalo (7-4) gained 44 yards on a quick throw from Josh Allen to a receiver, who tossed a backward pass to another teammate.
Following a false-start penalty created a fourth down situation for Buffalo, a Texans defender picked off the quarterback's pass at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds remaining.
We possessed a opportunity to come out on top 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 Allen to establish rhythm on a night he was brought down a personal-worst eight times and pressured four other times. The QB passed for 253 yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after producing six TDs in a victory over Tampa Bay the previous week.
“When they pressure our QB a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It’s just not a healthy way to play and it’s not a good way to keep 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 opening two quarters. He said he was fine and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being contacted so many times on Thursday.
“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I encountered a few myself. I need to be better at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I was going backwards.”
Allen surrendered 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half tackles for loss to lead the Houston defense. His second one came when he almost took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and Anderson got up and pursued him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt in the third quarter.
The Bills played for a second consecutive matchup absent wideout Keon Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was late to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was previously benched for the opening drive of a defeat to the Patriots in Week 5 after also being delayed for a meeting.
“Nothing new. We’re just approaching it day by day,” the coach noted. “I thought he had a improved week, but we’re taking it one day at a time. It was not that it was ignored, but we opted for the guys that provide the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir led the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
The quarterback was disappointed that the team couldn’t execute down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we’ve got perform, and we didn’t succeed of that this evening,” he concluded. “Whatever situation and whatever condition, we need to find a way, and we came up short.”
