Little clicked for Josh Allen in a disappointing contest on Thursday evening versus the Texans.
Yet he came close to driving the Bills to a win before an late pick in the final minute sealed their fate in a close loss.
Allen took back-to-back tackles for loss on the team's final possession, leading to a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (7-4) picked up 44 yards on a quick throw from Allen to a receiver, who flipped a backward pass to another teammate.
Following a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth down situation for Buffalo, a Texans defender intercepted the quarterback's throw at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds left.
We possessed a chance to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen stated. “We did a good job of hanging tough and our defense saved us a few instances. We must find a way, and we didn’t.”
It was tough for Allen to get anything going on a night he was brought down a career-high on eight occasions and hit four other times. Allen passed for 253 yards with two interceptions and zero scores after producing six TDs in a victory over Tampa Bay the previous week.
“When they hit our quarterback 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott said. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It is not a healthy way to play and it’s not a smart way to preserve our quarterback in good shape for the rest of the season. We’ve got to play better.”
Allen was slow to get up after a tackle in the first half. He indicated he was fine and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being contacted so many times during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I encountered a few personally. I need to be better at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I was going backwards.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had 2.5 sacks to top the Texans. His second one came when he almost took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and Anderson rose and pursued him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt early in the third.
The Bills competed for a second straight game absent wideout Keon Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was late to a team meeting before their last game. He was earlier benched for the first series of a defeat to the Patriots in the fifth week after also being late for a team session.
No change. We are taking it day by day,” McDermott said. “I thought he had a improved week, but we’re handling it step by step. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the guys that provide the optimal opportunity.”
Khalil Shakir led the Bills with eight receptions for 110 yards and Cook had 116 yards and a score.
The quarterback was frustrated that the team couldn’t execute in crucial moments.
In the end, we’ve got execute, and we didn’t succeed of that this evening,” he concluded. “Whatever situation and any circumstance, we need to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
