Very little went right for Josh Allen in a disappointing game on Thursday evening against the Houston Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to willing the Bills to a victory before an late pick in the last moments ended their hopes in a close defeat.
The quarterback endured back-to-back tackles for loss on the Bills’ final possession, leading to a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (7-4) gained 44 yards on a short pass from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a lateral to Khalil Shakir.
After a pre-snap infraction created a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, a Texans defender picked off Allen’s throw at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds remaining.
“We had a chance to win it there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen stated. “We did a good job of hanging tough and our defensive unit bailed us out a couple of times. We must figure it out, and we didn’t.”
It was difficult for Allen to establish rhythm on a night he was brought down a personal-worst eight times and pressured four additional instances. Allen passed for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and zero scores after producing six TDs in a victory over the Buccaneers last week.
“When they pressure our quarterback 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It is not a safe way to compete and it’s not a good way to keep our field general healthy for the remaining games. We’ve got to play better.”
Josh Allen was slow to rise after a tackle in the first half. He said he was OK and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was asked about being contacted so frequently during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I encountered a couple personally. I need to be better at disposing of the football. Too many times, I found myself losing ground.”
Allen lost 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Anderson had two and a half tackles for loss to top the Texans. Another sack came when he almost took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and Anderson rose and pursued him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt in the third quarter.
The Bills competed for a second consecutive matchup without receiver Keon Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was late to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was earlier benched for the opening drive of a loss to the Patriots in Week 5 after also being delayed for a team session.
“Nothing new. We’re just approaching it day by day,” McDermott noted. “I thought he had a better week, but we’re handling it step by step. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the players that provide the best chance.”
Shakir led the Bills with eight catches for 110 yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
Allen was disappointed that the team 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. “No matter the situation and any condition, we need to find a way, and we didn’t.”
