Very little went right for Josh Allen in a frustrating game Thursday night versus the Texans.
And still he nearly managed to driving the Bills to a victory before an interception in the last moments ended their hopes in a close defeat.
The quarterback endured back-to-back tackles for loss on the team's final possession, leading to a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (7-4) picked up significant yardage on a short pass from Josh Allen to a receiver, who tossed a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.
After a pre-snap infraction created a fourth down situation for the Bills, Calen Bullock picked off Allen’s pass at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds remaining.
We possessed a opportunity to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Allen stated. “Our team performed a good job of staying in it and our defensive unit saved us a couple of times. We must figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”
Proved difficult for Allen to get anything going on a night he was brought down a career-high on eight occasions and pressured four other times. Allen threw for 253 yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after accounting for six TDs in a win over Tampa Bay the previous week.
“When they pressure our QB a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott commented. “I don’t like that stat at all. It’s just not a healthy way to compete and it isn't a good way to preserve our field general healthy for the rest of the season. We need to improve our performance.”
Josh Allen was sluggish to rise after a sack in the first half. He indicated he was fine and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being contacted so many times during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I ran into a few personally. I’ve got to be more effective at disposing of the football. Too many times, I was losing ground.”
Allen lost 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 sacks to lead the Texans. His second one occurred when he nearly took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and Anderson got up and pursued him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt early in the third.
The Bills played for a second straight game absent receiver Keon Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their last game. He was earlier benched for the opening drive of a defeat to the Patriots in the fifth week after also being late for a team session.
No change. We are approaching it day by day,” the coach noted. “I felt he had a better week, but we’re handling it step by step. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the guys that provide the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
The quarterback was frustrated that the team couldn’t execute down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we must perform, and we didn’t succeed of that tonight,” he concluded. “No matter the scenario and whatever circumstance, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
