Little clicked for Josh Allen in a disappointing contest Thursday night versus the Houston Texans.
Yet he came close to willing the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an interception in the final minute ended their hopes in a close defeat.
Allen took back-to-back sacks on the team's final possession, leading to a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (7-4) gained 44 yards on a short pass from Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a lateral to Khalil Shakir.
After a false-start penalty led to a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, a Texans defender picked off Allen’s throw at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds left.
“We had a opportunity to win it there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen stated. “We did a good job of staying in it and our defense saved us a couple of times. We’ve got figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”
Proved difficult for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a night he was sacked a personal-worst on eight occasions and pressured four other times. The QB threw for 253 yards with two interceptions and zero scores after accounting for six TDs in a victory over Tampa Bay last week.
“When they pressure our QB 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott commented. “I don’t like that stat at all. It’s just not a safe way to compete and it’s not a smart way to keep our field general in good shape for the remaining games. We need to play better.”
Allen was slow 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 fell on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being hit so frequently during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I ran into a couple myself. I need to be better at disposing of the football. Too many times, I was going backwards.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had 2.5 sacks to top the Texans. His second one occurred when he nearly took Allen down 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.
Buffalo competed for a second straight game absent wideout Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was late to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was earlier held out for the opening drive of a loss to New England in Week 5 after additionally being delayed for a team session.
“Nothing new. We are taking 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 was ignored, but we opted for the players that give us the best chance.”
Khalil Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight catches for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a score.
The quarterback was disappointed that the team couldn’t make plays down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we’ve got execute, and we failed to do a good job of that tonight,” he concluded. “Whatever scenario and any circumstance, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
