Little went well for Josh Allen in a disappointing contest on Thursday evening against the Texans.
Yet he came close to driving the Bills to a victory before an interception in the final minute sealed their fate in a 23-19 defeat.
Allen took back-to-back tackles for loss on the team's last drive, leading to a long fourth down, but the Bills (with seven wins) picked up 44 yards on a short pass from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.
Following a false-start penalty created a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, a Texans defender picked off the quarterback's pass at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds left.
“We had a chance to win it there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen said. “We did a good job of staying in it and our defense bailed us out a few instances. We’ve got find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was tough for the signal-caller to get anything going on a night he was sacked a personal-worst on eight occasions and pressured four additional instances. Allen passed for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and zero scores after producing six TDs in a victory over Tampa Bay last week.
“When they hit our quarterback 12 times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott commented. “I don’t like that stat at all. It’s just 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.”
Allen was sluggish to rise after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He said he was OK and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being hit so frequently on Thursday.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I ran into a few myself. I’ve got to be better at disposing of the football. Too many times, I found myself losing ground.”
Allen lost 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half sacks to top the Texans. Another sack came when he almost took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and Anderson got up and chased him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt in the third quarter.
Buffalo played for a second consecutive matchup absent receiver Keon Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was late to a team meeting before their last game. He was earlier benched for the opening drive of a loss to New England in the fifth week after additionally being delayed for a team session.
“Nothing new. We are approaching it one day at a time,” McDermott noted. “I thought he had a improved week, but we’re handling it one day at a time. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the guys that provide the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.
The quarterback was frustrated that the Bills couldn’t execute down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we’ve got perform, and we failed to succeed of that this evening,” he said. “Whatever scenario and whatever circumstance, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we came up short.”
