Very little went well for the Bills' quarterback in a disappointing game Thursday night versus the Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to willing the Buffalo Bills to a win before an interception in the final minute sealed their fate in a close loss.
Allen endured consecutive tackles for loss on the team's last drive, leading to a long fourth down, but Buffalo (7-4) picked up significant yardage on a quick throw from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a lateral to Khalil Shakir.
After a false-start penalty created a fourth down situation for Buffalo, a Texans defender picked off the quarterback's throw at the Houston 9 with under half a minute remaining.
“We had a chance to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Allen said. “We did a good job of hanging tough and our defensive unit saved us a few instances. We’ve got figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was difficult for Allen to get anything going on a evening he was brought down a career-high eight times and hit four other times. Allen threw for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after accounting for six TDs in a victory over the Buccaneers last week.
Whenever they pressure our QB a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It’s just not a healthy way to compete and it isn't a smart way to preserve our field general healthy for the rest of the season. We’ve got to play better.”
Josh Allen was slow to get up after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was fine and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being contacted so many times on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I encountered a few myself. I need to be better at disposing of the football. Too many times, I found myself losing ground.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half sacks to top the Houston defense. Another sack came when he almost sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and Anderson rose and pursued him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt in the third quarter.
Buffalo played for a second consecutive matchup without wideout Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was late to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was previously benched for the first series of a loss to New England in the fifth week after also being delayed for a team session.
“Nothing new. We’re just taking it one day at a time,” McDermott said. “I felt he had a improved week, but we’re handling it step by step. It was not that it was ignored, but we went with the guys that provide the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir topped the Bills with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
The quarterback was disappointed that the team were unable to execute in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we must execute, and we failed to do a good job of that tonight,” he concluded. “No matter the scenario and any condition, we need to find a way, and we came up short.”
