Very little went well for Josh Allen in a tough contest Thursday night against the Houston Texans.
Yet he came close to driving the Bills to a win before an late pick in the final minute ended their hopes in a close loss.
Allen took back-to-back sacks on the team's final possession, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (with seven wins) gained significant yardage on a quick throw from Allen to a receiver, who tossed a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.
Following a pre-snap infraction created a fourth down situation for the Bills, a Texans defender picked off Allen’s pass at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds left.
We possessed a opportunity to come out on top there at the end,” Allen said. “We did a solid job of hanging tough and our defense saved us a few instances. We must find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was difficult for Allen to get anything going on a night he was sacked a personal-worst eight times and hit four additional instances. The QB threw for 253 yards with two interceptions and zero scores after producing six touchdowns in a win over the Buccaneers the previous week.
“When they pressure our quarterback a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach McDermott said. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It is not a safe way to play and it isn't a good way to keep our quarterback in good shape for the rest of the season. We’ve got to improve our performance.”
Allen was sluggish to get up after a sack in the opening two quarters. He said he was OK and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being contacted so frequently on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I ran into a couple personally. I need to be better at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I found myself going backwards.”
Allen surrendered 70 yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 tackles for loss to lead the Texans. Another sack came when he almost sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and the defender got up and pursued him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt in the third quarter.
The Bills played for a second consecutive matchup absent wideout Keon Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was tardy 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 delayed for a meeting.
“Nothing new. We are taking it day by day,” McDermott said. “I felt he had a better week, but we are taking it one day at a time. It was not that it was ignored, but we opted for the guys that give us the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir topped the Bills with eight catches for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.
Allen was frustrated that the team were unable to make plays down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we’ve got perform, and we failed to succeed of that tonight,” he concluded. “Whatever situation and any condition, we need to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
