Very little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a tough contest on Thursday evening versus the Texans.
And still he came close to driving the Bills to a victory before an interception in the last moments ended their hopes in a 23-19 loss.
Allen took consecutive tackles for loss on the team's final possession, leading to a long fourth down, but the Bills (with seven wins) picked up significant yardage on a quick throw from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a backward pass to another teammate.
After a false-start penalty created a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, a Texans defender picked off the quarterback's pass at the 9-yard line with under half a minute left.
“We had a opportunity to come out on top there at the end,” Allen stated. “We did a good job of hanging tough and our defensive unit saved us a few instances. We must find a way, and we didn’t.”
It was tough for Allen to establish rhythm on a night he was brought down a personal-worst on eight occasions and hit four other times. Allen threw for 253 yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after accounting for six touchdowns in a victory over Tampa Bay the previous week.
“When they pressure our quarterback 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “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 need to improve our performance.”
Allen was sluggish to get up after a tackle in the first half. He said he was fine and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being hit so many times during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I encountered a couple personally. I need to be more effective at disposing of the football. Too many times, I found myself losing ground.”
Allen lost 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Anderson had 2.5 tackles for loss to lead the Houston defense. His second one came when he almost took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and Anderson rose and pursued him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt early in the third.
Buffalo competed for a second straight game without wideout Keon Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a team meeting before their last game. He was previously benched for the opening drive of a defeat to New England in Week 5 after also being late for a meeting.
No change. We are taking it day by day,” the coach noted. “I felt he had a better week, but we’re handling it step by step. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we went with the guys that provide the optimal opportunity.”
Khalil Shakir topped the Bills with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
The quarterback was frustrated that the Bills couldn’t execute down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we must perform, and we failed to do a good job of that this evening,” he said. “No matter the scenario and whatever condition, we’ve got to find a way, and we came up short.”
