Little went right for Josh Allen in a frustrating game on Thursday evening versus the Houston Texans.
And still he came close to willing the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an interception in the final minute ended their hopes in a 23-19 defeat.
Allen took consecutive tackles for loss on the Bills’ final possession, resulting in a long fourth down, but the Bills (with seven wins) picked up 44 yards on a quick throw from Allen to a receiver, who flipped a backward pass to another teammate.
Following a pre-snap infraction created a fourth down situation for Buffalo, a Texans defender picked off Allen’s throw at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds remaining.
“We had a opportunity to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Allen said. “Our team performed a solid job of staying in it and our defensive unit saved us a few instances. We must figure it out, and we didn’t.”
Proved tough for Allen to get anything going on a evening he was sacked a career-high eight times and pressured four other times. Allen threw for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and zero scores after producing six touchdowns in a win over Tampa Bay last week.
“When they pressure our quarterback a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It is not a healthy way to play and it’s not a smart way to preserve our quarterback healthy for the rest of the season. We need to improve our performance.”
Josh Allen was sluggish to get up after a sack in the first half. He indicated he was OK and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was asked about being contacted so many times on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I encountered a couple personally. I need to be more effective at disposing of the football. Too many times, I was losing ground.”
Allen lost 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half tackles for loss to lead the Texans. Another sack came when he nearly sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and the defender rose and pursued him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt in the third quarter.
Buffalo competed for a second straight game without wideout Keon Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was late to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was previously held out for the opening drive of a defeat to New England in Week 5 after additionally being late for a team session.
“Nothing new. We are approaching it one day at a time,” the coach said. “I felt he had a improved week, but we’re taking it step by step. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the guys that give us the best chance.”
Shakir topped the Bills with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.
Allen was frustrated that the Bills couldn’t make plays down the stretch.
In the end, we must execute, and we didn’t do a good job of that this evening,” he said. “Whatever situation and any condition, we need to find a way, and we came up short.”
