Little went right for the Bills' quarterback in a tough contest Thursday night versus the Houston Texans.
And still he nearly managed to willing the Buffalo Bills to a win before an interception in the final minute ended their hopes in a close loss.
The quarterback endured consecutive sacks on the Bills’ final possession, resulting in a long fourth down, but the Bills (with seven wins) picked up significant yardage on a short pass from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a lateral to another teammate.
Following a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, a Texans defender picked off the quarterback's throw at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds remaining.
We possessed a chance to win it there at the conclusion,” Allen said. “We did a solid job of hanging tough and our defense saved us a few instances. We must find a way, and we didn’t.”
Proved difficult for the signal-caller to get anything going on a night he was sacked a career-high on eight occasions and pressured four additional instances. The QB passed for 253 yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after accounting for six touchdowns in a victory over Tampa Bay the previous week.
Whenever they hit our QB a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach Sean McDermott commented. “I don’t like that stat at all. It is not a safe way to compete and it isn't a good way to keep our quarterback in good shape for the remaining games. We need to play better.”
Allen was sluggish to rise after a tackle in the first half. He indicated he was fine and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being contacted so frequently during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I encountered a couple personally. I need to be better at disposing of the football. Too many times, I was going backwards.”
Allen lost 70 yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half sacks to top the Houston defense. His second one occurred when he nearly took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and the defender got up and chased him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt in the third quarter.
Buffalo played for a second consecutive matchup without wideout Keon Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was tardy to a team meeting before their last game. He was previously held out for the opening drive of a loss to New England in the fifth week after also being late for a team session.
“Nothing new. We’re just taking it one day at a time,” the coach said. “I felt he had a improved week, but we are handling it step by step. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the players that provide the optimal opportunity.”
Khalil Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
Allen was frustrated that the Bills were unable to execute in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we must execute, and we didn’t do a good job of that tonight,” he concluded. “No matter the situation and any circumstance, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”
