Very little went right for the Bills' quarterback in a tough contest Thursday night against the Texans.
Yet he came close to driving the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an late pick in the last moments sealed their fate in a close defeat.
Allen endured back-to-back sacks on the Bills’ final possession, leading to a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (with seven wins) gained significant yardage on a quick throw from Allen to a receiver, who flipped a lateral to another teammate.
After a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, Calen Bullock picked off Allen’s pass at the 9-yard line with under half a minute left.
We possessed a opportunity to win it there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen stated. “We did a good job of staying in it and our defense bailed us out a couple of times. We must figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”
Proved tough for Allen to establish rhythm on a night he was brought down a personal-worst eight times and pressured four additional instances. The QB threw for 253 yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after accounting for six TDs in a win over Tampa Bay last week.
“When they hit our QB 12 times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It is not a safe way to compete and it isn't a smart way to keep our field general in good shape for the remaining games. We’ve got to improve our performance.”
Josh Allen was slow to rise after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was fine and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being contacted so frequently on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I encountered a couple personally. I need 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 sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half tackles for loss to top the Texans. His second one came when he almost sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he escaped 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.
The Bills competed for a second straight game without wideout Keon Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was late to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was previously held out for the first series of a defeat to the Patriots in the fifth week after also being delayed for a team session.
No change. We’re just approaching it day by day,” McDermott noted. “I felt he had a improved week, but we are handling it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we went with the guys that give us the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir led the Bills with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
The quarterback was frustrated that the Bills couldn’t make plays down the stretch.
In the end, we’ve got perform, and we didn’t succeed of that this evening,” he said. “No matter the situation and whatever condition, we’ve got to find a way, and we came up short.”
