Little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a disappointing game Thursday night versus the Texans.
And still he nearly managed to driving the Bills to a victory before an late pick in the last moments sealed their fate in a 23-19 defeat.
Allen took back-to-back tackles for loss on the team's final possession, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (with seven wins) gained significant yardage on a quick throw from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a lateral to Khalil Shakir.
After a pre-snap infraction created a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, a Texans defender intercepted Allen’s throw at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds left.
“We had a chance to come out on top there at the end,” Allen stated. “We did a solid job of staying in it and our defense saved us a couple of times. We’ve got find a way, and we didn’t.”
It was tough for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a night he was brought down a career-high on eight occasions and hit four other times. Allen passed for 253 yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after accounting for six touchdowns in a win over the Buccaneers last week.
Whenever they pressure our quarterback a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It’s just not a safe way to compete and it’s not a good way to preserve our field general in good shape for the rest of the season. We need to play better.”
Josh Allen was sluggish to get up after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He said he was OK and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being hit so frequently during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I encountered a couple myself. I need to be better at disposing of the football. Too many times, I was going backwards.”
Allen lost 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 tackles for loss to top the Texans. His second one occurred when he nearly took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and the defender rose and pursued him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt in the third quarter.
Buffalo played for a second consecutive matchup without receiver Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was previously held out for the opening drive of a defeat to the Patriots in Week 5 after also being late for a team session.
No change. We are approaching it day by day,” the coach said. “I felt he had a improved week, but we’re taking it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the players that provide the best chance.”
Shakir topped the Bills with eight catches for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
The quarterback was disappointed that the team were unable to execute down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we’ve got execute, and we failed to do a good job of that this evening,” he concluded. “No matter the scenario and any condition, we need to discover a solution, and we came up short.”
