Little went well for Josh Allen in a tough contest on Thursday evening against the Houston Texans.
And still he nearly managed to willing the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an late pick in the final minute ended their hopes in a close loss.
The quarterback endured consecutive sacks on the team's last drive, leading to a long fourth down, but Buffalo (7-4) picked up 44 yards on a short pass from Allen to a receiver, who tossed a lateral to Khalil Shakir.
Following a false-start penalty led to a fourth down situation for Buffalo, Calen Bullock intercepted Allen’s throw at the Houston 9 with under half a minute remaining.
“We had a opportunity to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Allen said. “Our team performed a good job of staying in it and our defensive unit saved us a couple of times. We must find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was tough for Allen to get anything going on a night he was sacked a career-high eight times and hit four other times. Allen passed 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 12 times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It is not a healthy way to play and it isn't a smart way to keep our quarterback healthy for the remaining games. We need to play better.”
Allen was sluggish to get up after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He said he was fine and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being contacted so frequently on Thursday.
“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 losing ground.”
The Bills' QB surrendered 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Anderson had two and a half sacks to top the Houston defense. His second one occurred when he almost took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and the defender rose and pursued him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt in the third quarter.
The Bills competed for a second consecutive matchup absent wideout Keon Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was late to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was previously held out for the first series of a loss to New England in the fifth week after additionally being late for a team session.
No change. We are taking it one day at a time,” the coach said. “I thought he had a better week, but we are 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.”
Khalil Shakir led the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
Allen was frustrated that the Bills couldn’t execute in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we must perform, and we failed to succeed of that tonight,” he concluded. “Whatever scenario and whatever circumstance, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we came up short.”
