Little went well for Josh Allen in a tough game on Thursday evening versus the Houston Texans.
And still he nearly managed to willing the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an interception in the last moments sealed their fate in a 23-19 loss.
The quarterback endured consecutive tackles for loss on the Bills’ final possession, leading to a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (with seven wins) gained 44 yards on a quick throw from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a lateral to another teammate.
Following a false-start penalty created a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, a Texans defender picked off Allen’s throw at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds remaining.
We possessed a chance to win it there at the end,” Allen stated. “We did a solid job of staying in it and our defensive unit saved us a couple of times. We must find a way, and we didn’t.”
It was tough for Allen to get anything going on a night he was sacked a personal-worst on eight occasions and pressured four additional instances. Allen passed for 253 yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after accounting for six touchdowns in a win over the Buccaneers last week.
Whenever they pressure our quarterback 12 times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott said. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It is not a healthy way to compete and it’s not a smart way to keep our quarterback in good shape for the rest of the season. We need to play better.”
Allen was slow to get up after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was OK and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was asked about being hit so frequently during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I encountered a few personally. I need to be better at disposing of the football. Too many times, I found myself going backwards.”
Allen lost 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half sacks to top the Houston defense. His second one occurred when he almost sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and the defender got up and chased him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt early in the third.
The Bills competed for a second straight game absent wideout Keon Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was tardy to a team meeting before their last game. He was previously benched for the first series of a loss to the Patriots in Week 5 after also being delayed for a meeting.
“Nothing new. We’re just taking it one day at a time,” the coach noted. “I thought he had a better week, but we’re taking it step by step. It was not that it was ignored, but we opted for the players that provide the best chance.”
Shakir topped the Bills with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a score.
Allen was frustrated that the team couldn’t execute down the stretch.
In the end, we must execute, and we failed to do a good job of that tonight,” he concluded. “No matter the scenario and whatever condition, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”
