Little went right for the Bills' quarterback in a disappointing contest Thursday night versus the Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to driving the Bills to a win before an late pick in the final minute ended their hopes in a close defeat.
Allen endured consecutive tackles for loss on the team's last drive, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (7-4) gained 44 yards on a short pass from Allen to a receiver, who flipped a lateral to Khalil Shakir.
After a pre-snap infraction created a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, a Texans defender intercepted the quarterback's throw at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds remaining.
We possessed a opportunity to come out on top 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 must find a way, and we didn’t.”
It was tough for Allen to establish rhythm on a evening he was brought down a career-high eight times and hit four additional instances. Allen threw for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after accounting for six TDs in a win over Tampa Bay the previous week.
“When they hit our quarterback 12 times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach Sean McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It is not a safe way to compete and it’s not a good way to preserve our quarterback healthy for the remaining games. We’ve got to play better.”
Josh Allen was slow to rise after a sack in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was OK and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being contacted so frequently during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I ran into a couple personally. I’ve got to be better at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I found myself losing ground.”
Allen surrendered 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 sacks to lead the Houston defense. His second one came when he almost sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and Anderson got up and pursued him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt early in the third.
Buffalo played for a second consecutive matchup absent receiver 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 taking it one day at a time,” the coach noted. “I thought he had a better 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.”
Khalil Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 yards and a score.
The quarterback was disappointed that the team couldn’t make plays down the stretch.
In the end, we must perform, and we didn’t succeed of that this evening,” he concluded. “Whatever scenario and whatever condition, we need to find a way, and we didn’t.”
