Very little went well for Josh Allen in a tough contest Thursday night versus the Texans.
And still he came close to willing the Bills to a victory before an interception in the last moments ended their hopes in a close loss.
The quarterback endured consecutive sacks on the team's final possession, resulting in a long fourth down, but the Bills (7-4) picked up 44 yards on a quick throw from Allen to a receiver, who tossed a backward pass to another teammate.
After a false-start penalty led to a fourth down situation for Buffalo, a Texans defender picked off the quarterback's throw at the 9-yard line with under half a minute left.
“We had a chance to win it there at the conclusion,” Allen stated. “We did a solid job of hanging tough and our defensive unit saved us a few instances. We must figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was tough for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a evening he was brought down a personal-worst eight times and hit four other times. The QB passed for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after producing six touchdowns in a victory over Tampa Bay the previous week.
Whenever they pressure our quarterback a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “I don’t like that stat at all. It’s just not a healthy way to play and it isn't a smart way to preserve our field general in good shape for the rest of the season. We’ve got to improve our performance.”
Allen was slow to rise after a sack in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was fine and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being contacted so frequently during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I ran into a couple personally. I’ve got to be better at disposing of the football. Too many times, I was losing ground.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Anderson had 2.5 tackles for loss to lead the Houston defense. His second one occurred when he nearly sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and the defender rose and chased him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt in the third quarter.
The Bills played for a second straight game without wideout Keon Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was previously benched for the opening drive of a defeat to the Patriots in the fifth week after also being delayed for a team session.
“Nothing new. We are approaching it day by day,” McDermott said. “I thought he had a better week, but we are taking it step by step. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the guys that provide the optimal opportunity.”
Khalil Shakir led the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
Allen was disappointed that the team 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 said. “Whatever scenario and whatever circumstance, we’ve got to find a way, and we came up short.”
