Little went right for the Bills' quarterback in a tough game on Thursday evening versus the Texans.
And still he came close to driving the Buffalo Bills to a win before an late pick in the last moments sealed their fate in a close loss.
Allen endured consecutive tackles for loss on the team's final possession, leading to a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (7-4) gained 44 yards on a quick throw from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a lateral to Khalil Shakir.
After a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, a Texans defender picked off Allen’s throw at the 9-yard line with under half a minute left.
We possessed a opportunity to win it there at the end,” Allen said. “Our team performed a good job of hanging tough and our defense saved us a couple of times. We’ve got find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
Proved difficult for the signal-caller to get anything going on a night he was brought down a career-high on eight occasions and hit four other times. The QB threw for 253 yards with two interceptions and zero scores after accounting for six touchdowns in a win over the Buccaneers the previous week.
Whenever they pressure our quarterback 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott said. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It is not a safe way to play and it’s not a good way to keep our field general in good shape for the remaining games. We’ve got to play better.”
Josh Allen was slow to get up after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was OK and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being hit so frequently on Thursday.
“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I encountered a couple myself. I’ve got to be better at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I found myself losing ground.”
Allen surrendered 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 sacks to top the Texans. His second one came when he nearly sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and the defender rose and chased him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt in the third quarter.
The Bills played for a second consecutive matchup without receiver Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was late 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 day by day,” McDermott said. “I felt 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 went with the players that provide the best chance.”
Shakir led the Bills with eight catches for 110 yards and Cook had 116 yards and a score.
The quarterback was disappointed that the team couldn’t make plays in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we must perform, and we failed to succeed of that tonight,” he said. “Whatever scenario and any circumstance, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”
