Very little went right for Josh Allen in a disappointing game Thursday night against the Houston Texans.
And still he nearly managed to willing the Bills to a victory before an interception in the final minute sealed their fate in a 23-19 loss.
Allen endured back-to-back tackles for loss on the team's final possession, leading to a long fourth down, but Buffalo (7-4) gained significant yardage on a quick throw from Allen to a receiver, who flipped a lateral to another teammate.
After a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth down situation for the Bills, a Texans defender intercepted the quarterback's pass at the 9-yard line with under half a minute remaining.
“We had a opportunity to win it there at the end,” Josh Allen stated. “We did a good job of hanging tough and our defensive unit bailed us out a couple of times. We’ve got figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”
Proved tough for Allen to get anything going on a night he was brought down a career-high on eight occasions and hit four additional instances. The QB passed for 253 yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after producing six touchdowns in a win over Tampa Bay last week.
Whenever they hit our quarterback 12 times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach McDermott said. “I don’t like that stat at all. It is not a safe way to compete and it isn't a smart way to keep our field general healthy for the rest of the season. We need to improve our performance.”
Allen was slow to get up after a sack in the opening two quarters. He said he was fine and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was asked about being hit so many times on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I encountered a few myself. I need to be better at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I found myself going backwards.”
Allen lost 70 yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had two and a half tackles for loss to top the Houston defense. His second one occurred when he nearly sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and Anderson rose and chased him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt early in the third.
The Bills played for a second straight game without wideout Keon Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was late to a squad gathering before their last game. He was earlier benched for the opening drive of a defeat to the Patriots in the fifth week after additionally being late for a team session.
“Nothing new. We’re just approaching it one day at a time,” the coach noted. “I felt he had a improved week, but we are handling it step by step. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the guys that provide the best chance.”
Khalil Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight catches for 110 yards and Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.
Allen was frustrated that the team were unable to execute down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we must execute, and we failed to succeed of that tonight,” he said. “Whatever scenario and any circumstance, we need to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
