Very little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a disappointing game Thursday night versus the Texans.
And still he nearly managed to willing the Bills to a win before an late pick in the final minute ended their hopes in a close defeat.
The quarterback endured back-to-back sacks on the team's final possession, resulting in a long fourth down, but the Bills (7-4) gained 44 yards on a short pass from Allen to a receiver, who flipped a lateral to Khalil Shakir.
Following a false-start penalty created a fourth down situation for Buffalo, Calen Bullock picked off the quarterback's throw at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds left.
We possessed a chance to come out on top there at the end,” Allen stated. “Our team performed a good job of hanging tough and our defense bailed us out a couple of times. We’ve got figure it out, and we didn’t.”
It was difficult for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a night he was sacked a personal-worst on eight occasions and hit four additional instances. The QB passed for 253 yards with two interceptions and zero scores after producing six touchdowns in a victory over the Buccaneers the previous week.
Whenever they pressure our QB a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It is not a safe way to compete and it isn't a smart way to preserve our field general healthy for the remaining games. We’ve got to improve our performance.”
Josh Allen was slow to rise after a tackle in the first half. He indicated he was OK and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being hit so frequently on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I ran into a couple myself. I’ve got to be more effective at disposing of the football. Too many times, I was losing ground.”
Allen surrendered 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had 2.5 sacks to top the Houston defense. Another sack came when he almost took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and the defender got up and pursued him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt early in the third.
The Bills competed for a second straight game absent wideout Keon 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 first series of a defeat to the Patriots in the fifth week after additionally being delayed for a meeting.
No change. We are approaching it one day at a time,” McDermott said. “I felt he had a improved week, but we’re taking it step by step. It was not that it was ignored, but we went with the guys that provide the best chance.”
Khalil Shakir led the Buffalo with eight catches for 110 yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
The quarterback was frustrated that the team were unable to execute in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we’ve got execute, and we didn’t succeed of that this evening,” he concluded. “No matter the scenario and any condition, we need to find a way, and we came up short.”
