Little went right for the Bills' quarterback in a frustrating game Thursday night versus the Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to willing the Buffalo Bills to a win before an late pick in the final minute sealed their fate in a 23-19 defeat.
Allen took back-to-back tackles for loss on the Bills’ final possession, resulting in a long fourth down, but the Bills (7-4) gained 44 yards on a quick throw from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a backward pass to another teammate.
Following a false-start penalty created a fourth down situation for the Bills, a Texans defender picked off Allen’s throw at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds left.
“We had a opportunity to win it there at the end,” Josh Allen stated. “We did a good job of staying in it and our defensive unit bailed us out a few instances. We’ve got figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was tough for the signal-caller to get anything going on a evening he was sacked a personal-worst eight times and hit four other times. Allen threw for 253 yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after producing six touchdowns in a win over Tampa Bay last week.
Whenever they hit our quarterback 12 times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “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 remaining games. We need to play better.”
Allen was slow to rise after a sack in the opening two quarters. He said 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 unpleasant,” he remarked. “I encountered a few personally. I’ve got to be better at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I was losing ground.”
Allen lost 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 sacks to lead the Houston defense. Another sack came when he nearly sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and Anderson got up and pursued him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt early in the third.
Buffalo competed for a second straight game without wideout Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was late to a squad gathering before their last game. He was previously held out for the opening drive of a loss to New England in Week 5 after also being delayed for a meeting.
No change. We are approaching it one day at a time,” the coach noted. “I felt he had a better week, but we’re taking it step by step. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the players that provide the optimal opportunity.”
Khalil Shakir led the Bills with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
The quarterback was frustrated that the team couldn’t make plays in crucial moments.
In the end, we’ve got perform, and we didn’t succeed of that tonight,” he concluded. “Whatever situation and any condition, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”
