Little went well for the Bills' quarterback in a disappointing contest on Thursday evening against the Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to willing the Bills to a win before an interception in the final minute ended their hopes in a close loss.
The quarterback endured back-to-back sacks on the Bills’ final possession, leading to a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (with seven wins) gained significant yardage on a quick throw from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a lateral to another teammate.
Following a false-start penalty led to a fourth down situation for the Bills, Calen Bullock intercepted Allen’s pass at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds remaining.
“We had a opportunity to come out on top there at the end,” Allen stated. “Our team performed a good job of staying in it and our defense saved us a couple of times. We’ve got find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was difficult for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a night he was brought down a personal-worst on eight occasions and hit four other times. The QB threw for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and zero scores after accounting for six TDs in a win over Tampa Bay the previous week.
“When they hit our quarterback a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach McDermott commented. “I don’t like that stat at all. It’s just not a safe way to compete and it’s not a smart way to keep our field general healthy for the rest of the season. We’ve got to play better.”
Allen was slow to rise after a sack in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was fine and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was asked about being hit so frequently on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I encountered a couple personally. I need to be more effective at disposing of the football. Too many times, I was going backwards.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half sacks to lead the Texans. His second one came when he almost sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and the defender got up and pursued him across the field 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 absent wideout Keon Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was late to a squad gathering before their last game. He was previously benched for the opening drive of a loss to the Patriots in the fifth week after additionally being delayed for a team session.
No change. We are taking it one day at a time,” the coach noted. “I felt he had a improved week, but we are handling it step by step. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the players that provide the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
Allen was disappointed that the team couldn’t execute down the stretch.
In the end, we’ve got execute, and we didn’t do a good job of that tonight,” he said. “No matter the scenario and any condition, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
