Very little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a disappointing contest Thursday night versus the Texans.
And still he nearly managed to willing the Bills to a victory before an late pick in the last moments sealed their fate in a close loss.
Allen took back-to-back tackles for loss on the team's last drive, resulting in a long fourth down, but the Bills (with seven wins) picked up significant yardage on a short pass from Josh Allen to a receiver, who flipped a backward pass to another teammate.
Following a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, a Texans defender picked off Allen’s throw at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds remaining.
“We had a opportunity to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Allen stated. “We did a good job of staying in it and our defense saved us a few instances. We must figure it out, and we didn’t.”
Proved difficult for Allen to establish rhythm on a evening he was brought down a career-high on eight occasions and pressured four other times. The QB passed for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after accounting for six TDs in a victory over Tampa Bay last week.
“When they pressure our QB 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach McDermott commented. “I don’t like that stat at all. It’s just not a safe way to compete and it’s not a smart way to keep our field general in good shape for the rest of the season. We’ve got to improve our performance.”
Allen was slow to get up after a sack in the opening two quarters. He said he was fine and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being contacted so frequently during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I encountered a couple myself. I’ve got to be better at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I was going backwards.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half sacks to lead the Houston defense. His second one came when he nearly sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and Anderson got up and chased 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 straight game absent wideout Keon Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was tardy to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was previously held out for the first series of a loss to New England in the fifth week after also being late for a team session.
“Nothing new. We are approaching it day by day,” McDermott said. “I felt he had a better week, but we are handling it step by step. It was not that it was ignored, but we opted for the guys that give us the optimal opportunity.”
Khalil Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
The quarterback was frustrated that the Bills were unable to execute down the stretch.
In the end, we’ve got perform, and we failed to do a good job of that this evening,” he said. “No matter the scenario and any condition, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we came up short.”
