Very little went right for the Bills' quarterback in a disappointing game on Thursday evening versus the Houston Texans.
And still he nearly managed to willing the Bills to a victory before an interception in the final minute ended their hopes in a close defeat.
The quarterback endured consecutive tackles for loss on the team's final possession, leading to a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (7-4) picked up significant yardage on a short pass from Allen to a receiver, who flipped a backward pass to another teammate.
Following a false-start penalty created a fourth down situation for the Bills, Calen Bullock intercepted the quarterback's pass at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds remaining.
We possessed a chance to win it there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen said. “Our team performed a good job of hanging tough and our defensive unit saved us a few instances. We must figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”
Proved tough for the signal-caller to get anything going on a evening he was sacked a personal-worst eight times and hit four other times. Allen passed for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and zero scores after producing six TDs in a victory over Tampa Bay the previous week.
Whenever they hit our QB a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach McDermott said. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It’s just not a safe way to compete and it isn't a smart way to preserve our quarterback healthy for the remaining games. We need to improve our performance.”
Josh Allen was slow to get up after a sack in the opening two quarters. He said he was OK and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being hit so frequently during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I ran into a few personally. I need to be more effective at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I found myself losing ground.”
The Bills' QB surrendered 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half sacks to top the Houston defense. His second one occurred when he almost took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and the defender got up and pursued him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt in the third quarter.
The Bills played for a second straight game without receiver Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was late to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was earlier held out for the opening drive of a defeat to New England in the fifth week after additionally being late for a team session.
“Nothing new. We are taking it one day at a time,” the coach said. “I felt he had a better week, but we are handling it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the guys that give us the best chance.”
Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 yards and a score.
Allen was frustrated that the Bills couldn’t execute in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we’ve got execute, and we failed to do a good job of that tonight,” he concluded. “No matter the scenario and any circumstance, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”
