Little went right for the Bills' quarterback in a frustrating game Thursday night versus the Houston Texans.
Yet he came close to driving the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an interception in the last moments sealed their fate in a 23-19 loss.
The quarterback endured consecutive sacks on the Bills’ final possession, leading to a long fourth down, but Buffalo (with seven wins) gained significant yardage on a quick throw from Josh Allen to a receiver, who flipped a lateral to Khalil Shakir.
Following a pre-snap infraction created a fourth down situation for Buffalo, Calen Bullock intercepted the quarterback's pass at the Houston 9 with under half a minute remaining.
“We had a chance to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Allen stated. “We did a solid job of hanging tough and our defense bailed us out a couple of times. We must find a way, and we didn’t.”
Proved tough for the signal-caller to get anything going on a evening he was brought down a personal-worst eight times and hit four other times. The QB passed for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after accounting for six touchdowns in a win over the Buccaneers last week.
“When they pressure our QB a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach McDermott commented. “I don’t like that stat at all. It is not a safe way to play and it’s not a good way to keep our quarterback in good shape for the rest of the season. We’ve got to play better.”
Josh Allen was slow to rise after a sack in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was fine and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being contacted so frequently during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I encountered a couple myself. I need to be more effective at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I was losing ground.”
Allen surrendered 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half sacks to top the Texans. His second one came when he nearly sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and the defender got up and pursued him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt in the third quarter.
Buffalo competed for a second consecutive matchup without receiver Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was tardy to a team meeting before their last game. He was earlier held out for the opening drive of a defeat to the Patriots in Week 5 after additionally being delayed for a team session.
“Nothing new. We are approaching it one day at a time,” the coach noted. “I thought he had a improved week, but we’re taking it step by step. It was not that it was ignored, but we opted for the players that give us the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir topped the Bills with eight receptions for 110 yards and Cook had 116 yards and a score.
Allen was disappointed that the Bills were unable to execute in crucial moments.
In the end, we’ve got perform, and we didn’t succeed of that tonight,” he said. “No matter the scenario and whatever circumstance, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
