Little clicked for Josh Allen in a tough contest Thursday night against the Texans.
And still he came close to willing the 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, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (7-4) gained significant yardage on a short pass from Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.
Following a false-start penalty created a fourth down situation for the Bills, a Texans defender intercepted Allen’s pass at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds left.
We possessed a chance to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Allen said. “Our team performed a solid job of hanging tough and our defensive unit saved us a few instances. We’ve got figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”
Proved tough for Allen to get anything going on a evening he was sacked a career-high on eight occasions and pressured four other times. The QB threw for 253 yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after accounting for six touchdowns in a victory over Tampa Bay last week.
“When they pressure our quarterback a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It is not a safe way to compete and it isn't a good way to preserve our quarterback healthy for the remaining games. We’ve got to play better.”
Josh 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 fell on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being contacted so many times on Thursday.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I encountered a couple myself. I’ve got to be better at disposing of the football. Too many times, I was losing ground.”
Allen surrendered 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 tackles for loss to lead the Texans. His second one came when he nearly sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and the defender rose and chased him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt in the third quarter.
Buffalo competed for a second straight game absent receiver Keon Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was late to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was previously held out for the opening drive of a loss to New England in Week 5 after additionally being late for a meeting.
No change. We are taking it day by day,” the coach said. “I thought he had a improved week, but we’re handling it one day at a time. 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 score.
Allen was disappointed that the team were unable to execute in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we’ve got execute, and we didn’t succeed of that tonight,” he said. “No matter the situation and any condition, we’ve got to find a way, and we came up short.”
