Little went well for Josh Allen in a disappointing game Thursday night versus the Houston Texans.
Yet he came close to driving the Bills to a victory before an late pick in the final minute sealed their fate in a close defeat.
The quarterback endured back-to-back sacks on the team's final possession, leading to a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (with seven wins) gained significant yardage on a quick throw from Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a lateral to another teammate.
After a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, a Texans defender intercepted Allen’s pass at the 9-yard line with under half a minute left.
We possessed a opportunity to come out on top there at the end,” Josh Allen stated. “We did a good job of hanging tough and our defense bailed us out a couple of times. We must figure it out, and we didn’t.”
It was tough for Allen to get anything going on a evening he was sacked a personal-worst on eight occasions and hit four other times. The QB passed for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after producing six touchdowns in a win over Tampa Bay last week.
Whenever they pressure our quarterback 12 times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach McDermott commented. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It is not a healthy way to play and it’s not a good way to keep our quarterback healthy for the rest of the season. We need to improve our performance.”
Allen was sluggish to rise after a tackle in the first half. He said he was fine and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being hit so many times on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I encountered a couple myself. I’ve got to be more effective at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I was losing ground.”
Allen surrendered 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had two and a half sacks to lead the Texans. His second one occurred when he almost sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and Anderson got up and chased him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt early in the third.
Buffalo played for a second straight game without wideout Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was tardy to a team meeting before their last game. He was earlier held out for the opening drive of a loss to New England in Week 5 after additionally being late for a meeting.
“Nothing new. We are approaching it day by day,” the coach said. “I thought he had a improved week, but we’re taking it step by step. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we opted for the players that provide the best chance.”
Khalil Shakir led the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
Allen was disappointed that the team couldn’t execute down the stretch.
In the end, we must perform, and we didn’t do a good job of that tonight,” he concluded. “Whatever situation and whatever condition, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we came up short.”
