Little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a tough game Thursday night against the Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to driving the Bills to a win before an late pick in the last moments ended their hopes in a 23-19 loss.
Allen endured consecutive sacks on the Bills’ final possession, leading to a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (with seven wins) picked up 44 yards on a quick throw from Josh Allen to a receiver, who tossed a lateral to Khalil Shakir.
After a pre-snap infraction created a fourth down situation for Buffalo, a Texans defender intercepted Allen’s pass at the 9-yard line with under half a minute remaining.
We possessed a chance to come out on top there at the end,” Allen stated. “We did a solid job of staying in it and our defensive unit bailed us out a few instances. We’ve got find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
Proved difficult for Allen to get anything going on a night he was brought down a career-high eight times and hit four additional instances. The QB threw for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after accounting for six TDs in a win over Tampa Bay last week.
Whenever they hit our quarterback 12 times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It’s just not a healthy way to play and it’s not a good way to keep our field general in good shape for the remaining games. We need to improve our performance.”
Josh Allen was slow to rise after a sack in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was fine and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being contacted so frequently during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I ran into a few myself. I’ve got to be better at disposing of the football. Too many times, I found myself losing ground.”
Allen surrendered 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 sacks to lead the Texans. Another sack occurred when he nearly took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and the defender rose and chased him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt early in the third.
The Bills played for a second consecutive matchup absent receiver Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was late to a squad gathering before their last game. He was earlier 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 approaching it day by day,” McDermott said. “I felt he had a better week, but we’re taking it step by step. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we went with the players that provide the best chance.”
Shakir led the Buffalo with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 yards and a score.
The quarterback was frustrated that the Bills couldn’t make plays down the stretch.
In the end, we must perform, and we failed to do a good job of that tonight,” he concluded. “Whatever scenario and any circumstance, we need to find a way, and we didn’t.”
