Very little went right for Josh Allen in a frustrating contest on Thursday evening versus the Houston Texans.
And still he nearly managed to driving the Bills to a win before an interception in the last moments ended their hopes in a 23-19 defeat.
Allen endured back-to-back tackles for loss on the team's last drive, leading to a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (with seven wins) picked up significant yardage on a quick throw from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.
After a false-start penalty created a fourth down situation for Buffalo, a Texans defender intercepted Allen’s pass at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds left.
“We had a chance to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen stated. “Our team performed a solid job of staying in it and our defensive unit saved us a few instances. We’ve got figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”
Proved tough for Allen to establish rhythm on a evening he was sacked a career-high eight times and hit four other times. Allen threw for 253 yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after producing six touchdowns in a win over the Buccaneers last week.
“When they hit our QB 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott said. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It’s just not a safe way to play and it’s not a good way to keep our field general healthy for the remaining games. We’ve got to play better.”
Josh Allen was slow to rise after a tackle in the first half. He indicated he was fine and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being hit so frequently during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I encountered a couple personally. I need to be better at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I found myself losing ground.”
Allen lost 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half tackles for loss to top the Houston defense. Another sack came when he nearly sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and Anderson rose and pursued him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt in the third quarter.
Buffalo played for a second straight game without wideout Coleman after he was again a non-participant 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 the fifth week after additionally being late for a team session.
No change. We are taking it day by day,” the coach said. “I felt he had a better week, but we are handling it step by step. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the guys that give us the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir led the Bills with eight catches for 110 yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
Allen was disappointed that the team were unable to make plays in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we must execute, and we didn’t succeed of that this evening,” he concluded. “Whatever scenario and any circumstance, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
