Little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a tough contest on Thursday evening against the Houston Texans.
And still he came close to driving the Bills to a victory before an late pick in the last moments ended their hopes in a close loss.
Allen took back-to-back tackles for loss on the Bills’ final possession, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (with seven wins) picked up significant yardage on a quick throw from Allen to a receiver, who tossed a lateral to another teammate.
After a false-start penalty led to a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, Calen Bullock picked off the quarterback's throw at the 9-yard line with under half a minute left.
We possessed a chance to win it there at the conclusion,” Allen stated. “We did a solid job of staying in it and our defense bailed us out a couple of times. We must find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
Proved difficult for Allen to get anything going on a evening he was brought down a career-high eight times and pressured four other times. The QB threw for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and zero scores after producing six TDs in a victory over the Buccaneers the previous week.
“When they hit our QB 12 times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach McDermott said. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It is not a safe way to play and it isn't a good way to preserve our quarterback in good shape for the rest of the season. We need to play better.”
Josh Allen was sluggish to get up after a sack in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was OK and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell 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 more effective at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I found myself going backwards.”
Allen surrendered 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 tackles for loss to top the Texans. Another sack came when he almost took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and Anderson rose and chased him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt in the third quarter.
Buffalo competed for a second straight game absent receiver Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was tardy to a team meeting before their last game. He was previously benched for the first series of a loss to New England in Week 5 after additionally being late for a meeting.
“Nothing new. We’re just taking it one day at a time,” McDermott noted. “I felt he had a improved week, but we’re taking it one day at a time. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the guys that provide the best chance.”
Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a score.
Allen was disappointed that the Bills couldn’t execute in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we’ve got perform, and we didn’t do a good job of that tonight,” he concluded. “No matter the situation and any condition, we need to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
