Very little went right for Josh Allen in a tough contest on Thursday evening against the Houston Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to willing the Bills to a win before an late pick in the last moments ended their hopes in a 23-19 defeat.
The quarterback took consecutive sacks on the team's final possession, leading to a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (with seven wins) picked up 44 yards on a quick throw from Allen to a receiver, who tossed a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.
After a false-start penalty led to a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, Calen Bullock picked off the quarterback's pass at the Houston 9 with under half a minute remaining.
“We had a chance to win it there at the end,” Allen said. “We did a solid job of staying in it and our defensive unit bailed us out a few instances. We must figure it out, and we didn’t.”
It was difficult for Allen to get anything going on a night he was sacked a career-high eight times and hit four additional instances. The QB passed for 253 yards with two interceptions and zero scores after accounting for six touchdowns in a victory over Tampa Bay last week.
Whenever they pressure our QB 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It is not a safe way to play and it isn't a smart way to keep our field general in good shape for the remaining games. We’ve got to play better.”
Josh Allen was slow to get up after a tackle in the first half. He indicated he was OK and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was asked about being contacted so many times on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I encountered a couple personally. I need to be more effective at disposing of the football. Too many times, I was going backwards.”
Allen lost 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had two and a half sacks to top the Houston defense. Another sack occurred when he nearly took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and the defender rose and pursued him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt early in the third.
The Bills competed for a second consecutive matchup without wideout Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was late to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was previously benched for the opening drive of a loss to New England in Week 5 after also being delayed for a meeting.
No change. We’re just taking it day by day,” McDermott said. “I felt he had a better week, but we’re taking it step by step. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we went with the players that give us the best chance.”
Khalil Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
Allen was disappointed that the Bills were unable to make plays down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we must perform, and we failed to do a good job of that this evening,” he concluded. “No matter the scenario and any circumstance, we need to discover a solution, and we came up short.”
