Little went right for the Bills' quarterback in a tough contest Thursday night against the Texans.
And still he nearly managed to willing the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an late pick in the last moments ended their hopes in a 23-19 defeat.
Allen endured consecutive sacks on the team's final possession, leading to a long fourth down, but the Bills (with seven wins) picked up 44 yards on a quick throw from Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a lateral to another teammate.
After a false-start penalty led to a fourth down situation for the Bills, a Texans defender intercepted Allen’s throw at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds remaining.
We possessed a chance to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen said. “We did a good job of hanging tough and our defensive unit saved us a couple of times. We’ve got find a way, and we didn’t.”
It was tough for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a evening he was brought down a personal-worst eight times and pressured four additional instances. Allen threw for 253 yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after producing six TDs in a win over the Buccaneers the previous week.
“When they pressure our QB a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head 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 smart way to keep our quarterback in good shape for the rest of the season. We need to improve our performance.”
Allen was sluggish to get up after a sack in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was OK and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was asked 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 disposing of the football. Too many times, I was going backwards.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had two and a half sacks to top the Houston defense. His second one came when he nearly took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and the defender got up and pursued him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt in the third quarter.
The Bills played for a second straight game absent wideout Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was previously held out for the opening drive of a loss to the Patriots in the fifth week after additionally being late for a meeting.
“Nothing new. We’re just taking it day by day,” McDermott said. “I felt he had a better week, but we are handling it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the players that give us the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight catches for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
Allen was disappointed that the team couldn’t execute in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we must perform, and we didn’t succeed of that tonight,” he said. “Whatever situation and any condition, we need to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
