Little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a tough contest Thursday night against the Texans.
And still he came close to driving the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an late pick in the last moments sealed their fate in a 23-19 defeat.
The quarterback endured consecutive tackles for loss on the Bills’ final possession, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (7-4) gained 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 the Bills, a Texans defender intercepted Allen’s pass at the Houston 9 with under half a minute remaining.
“We had a opportunity to win it there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen stated. “We did a good job of staying in it and our defense saved us a couple of times. We’ve got figure it out, and we didn’t.”
It was difficult for Allen to establish rhythm on a evening he was sacked a career-high eight times and pressured four additional instances. The QB passed for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after producing six touchdowns in a win over the Buccaneers last week.
“When they hit our QB 12 times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott said. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It’s just not a safe way to compete and it’s not a smart way to preserve our field general healthy for the rest of the season. We need to play better.”
Josh Allen was slow to rise after a sack in the opening two quarters. He said he was fine and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being hit so frequently during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I ran into a few myself. I’ve got to be more effective at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I found myself losing ground.”
The Bills' QB surrendered 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had two and a half tackles for loss to lead the Houston defense. Another sack occurred when he nearly sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and Anderson got up and pursued him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt early in the third.
Buffalo played for a second straight game absent wideout Keon Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was late to a team meeting before their last game. He was previously held out for the first series of a loss to New England in the fifth week after additionally being delayed for a team session.
“Nothing new. We’re just approaching it day by day,” McDermott noted. “I thought he had a better week, but we’re handling it step by step. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the players that give us the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir topped the Bills with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.
Allen was disappointed that the Bills were unable to execute in crucial moments.
In the end, we’ve got perform, and we failed to succeed of that tonight,” he said. “Whatever situation and any condition, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we came up short.”
