Very little clicked for Josh Allen in a tough game on Thursday evening versus the Houston Texans.
Yet he came close to driving the Bills to a win before an interception in the final minute ended their hopes in a close defeat.
The quarterback took back-to-back sacks on the Bills’ last drive, resulting in a long fourth down, but the Bills (7-4) gained 44 yards on a quick throw from Allen to a receiver, who tossed a lateral to another teammate.
After a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth down situation for the Bills, Calen Bullock picked off Allen’s throw at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds left.
“We had a opportunity to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Allen stated. “Our team performed a good job of staying in it and our defense saved us a few instances. We must figure it out, and we didn’t.”
It was tough for Allen to establish rhythm on a evening he was sacked a personal-worst on eight occasions and pressured four other times. The QB passed for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after producing six touchdowns in a victory over Tampa Bay the previous week.
Whenever they pressure our quarterback 12 times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott said. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It’s just not a healthy way to compete and it’s not a smart way to preserve our field general healthy for the remaining games. We need to improve our performance.”
Allen was sluggish to rise after a sack in the first half. He indicated he was fine and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being contacted so many times during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I encountered a couple myself. I need to be better at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I found myself losing ground.”
Allen lost 70 yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 sacks to top the Texans. His second one came when he nearly took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and Anderson got up and chased him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt early in the third.
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 previously benched for the opening drive of a defeat to the Patriots in Week 5 after additionally being late for a team session.
No change. We’re just approaching it day by day,” McDermott noted. “I felt he had a better week, but we’re handling it step by step. It was not that it was ignored, but we went with the guys that give us the best chance.”
Khalil Shakir topped the Bills with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
Allen was disappointed that the Bills were unable to make plays down the stretch.
In the end, we must execute, and we didn’t do a good job of that this evening,” he said. “Whatever situation and any circumstance, we need to discover a solution, and we came up short.”
