Little went well for Josh Allen in a frustrating contest on Thursday evening versus the Houston Texans.
Yet he came close to driving the Bills to a win before an interception in the final minute sealed their fate in a close defeat.
Allen endured consecutive sacks on the Bills’ final possession, leading to a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (with seven wins) gained significant yardage on a quick throw from Josh Allen to a receiver, who flipped a lateral to Khalil Shakir.
After a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, a Texans defender picked off the quarterback's pass at the 9-yard line with under half a minute left.
We possessed a opportunity to win it there at the end,” Allen said. “We did a good job of staying in it and our defense saved us a few instances. We must find a way, and we didn’t.”
It was difficult for Allen to establish rhythm on a evening he was brought down a career-high on eight occasions and pressured four additional instances. Allen passed for 253 yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after accounting for six touchdowns in a win over the Buccaneers the previous week.
Whenever they pressure our quarterback 12 times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It’s just not a safe way to play and it’s not a good way to keep our quarterback in good shape for the remaining games. We need to play better.”
Allen was slow to rise after a sack in the first half. He indicated he was OK and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being hit so many times on Thursday.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I ran into a few myself. I’ve got to be better at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I was going backwards.”
Allen lost 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had 2.5 sacks to lead the Houston defense. Another sack came when he nearly sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and the defender rose and pursued him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt early in the third.
Buffalo competed for a second consecutive matchup absent wideout Keon Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was earlier benched for the first series of a loss to New England in the fifth week after additionally being late for a meeting.
“Nothing new. We’re just taking it one day at a time,” the coach noted. “I thought he had a improved week, but we are taking it step by step. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we opted for the players that provide the optimal opportunity.”
Khalil Shakir topped the Bills with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a score.
The quarterback was disappointed that the team were unable to execute in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we’ve got execute, and we failed to succeed of that tonight,” he said. “Whatever scenario and whatever circumstance, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
