Very little went right for Josh Allen in a disappointing contest on Thursday evening against the Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to willing the Bills to a win before an late pick in the last moments sealed their fate in a close defeat.
The quarterback took consecutive tackles for loss on the team's last drive, leading to a long fourth down, but Buffalo (7-4) gained significant yardage on a quick throw from Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a lateral to Khalil Shakir.
Following a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth down situation for the Bills, a Texans defender picked off Allen’s pass at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds left.
“We had a chance to come out on top there at the end,” Allen said. “We did a solid job of hanging tough and our defense bailed us out a few instances. We must find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was tough 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 passing yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after producing six touchdowns in a victory over the Buccaneers last week.
“When they pressure our QB 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach Sean McDermott commented. “I don’t like that stat at all. It’s just not a healthy way to compete and it isn't a good way to keep our quarterback in good shape for the remaining games. We need to play better.”
Josh Allen was sluggish to rise after a sack in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was fine and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being contacted so frequently on Thursday.
“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I ran into a few personally. I’ve got to be better at disposing of the football. Too many times, I was losing ground.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had two and a half tackles for loss to lead the Houston defense. His second one came when he almost took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and Anderson rose and pursued him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt early in the third.
Buffalo played for a second consecutive matchup without wideout Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was late to a squad gathering before their last game. He was previously held out for the first series of a loss to New England in the fifth week after also being late for a meeting.
No change. We’re just approaching it day by day,” McDermott said. “I thought he had a improved week, but we are taking it one day at a time. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the players that give us the best chance.”
Khalil 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.
“Ultimately, we’ve got execute, and we didn’t succeed of that this evening,” he concluded. “No matter the scenario and whatever circumstance, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”
