Very little went well for Josh Allen in a disappointing contest Thursday night against the Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to driving the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an interception in the last moments ended their hopes in a close defeat.
The quarterback took consecutive sacks on the Bills’ final possession, leading to a long fourth down, but the Bills (with seven wins) gained significant yardage on a quick throw from Allen to a receiver, who tossed a backward pass to another teammate.
After a pre-snap infraction created a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, a Texans defender picked off Allen’s pass at the Houston 9 with under half a minute remaining.
We possessed a chance to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Allen stated. “We did a solid job of hanging tough and our defense bailed us out a couple of times. We must figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was difficult for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a night he was sacked a personal-worst eight times and pressured four additional instances. Allen passed for 253 yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after accounting for six touchdowns in a victory over the Buccaneers last week.
“When they pressure our quarterback 12 times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “I don’t like that stat at all. It is not a healthy way to compete and it isn't a good way to keep our field general in good shape for the rest of the season. We need to play better.”
Josh Allen was sluggish to rise after a sack in the first half. He said he was fine and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being hit so many times on Thursday.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I ran into a couple myself. I need to be more effective at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I found myself going backwards.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half tackles for loss to lead the Texans. His second one came when he nearly sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and Anderson rose and chased him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt in the third quarter.
Buffalo competed for a second consecutive matchup without wideout Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their last game. He was previously held out for the opening drive of a defeat to New England in Week 5 after also being delayed for a team session.
No change. We’re just taking it one day at a time,” McDermott said. “I felt he had a better week, but we’re handling it step by step. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the players that give us the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir led the Bills with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.
Allen was frustrated that the team couldn’t execute down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we’ve got execute, and we failed to succeed of that this evening,” he said. “Whatever scenario and any circumstance, we’ve got to find a way, and we came up short.”
