Little went right for Josh Allen in a tough contest Thursday night versus the Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to driving the Buffalo Bills to a win before an interception in the last moments sealed their fate in a close loss.
The quarterback took back-to-back sacks on the Bills’ last drive, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (with seven wins) gained 44 yards 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 the Bills, Calen Bullock picked off the quarterback's throw at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds remaining.
We possessed a opportunity to win it there at the conclusion,” Allen said. “Our team performed a good job of staying in it and our defense saved us a couple of times. We must figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was tough for Allen to get anything going on a evening he was sacked a personal-worst on eight occasions and hit four other times. The QB passed for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after producing six TDs in a victory over Tampa Bay last week.
Whenever they pressure our quarterback 12 times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott said. “I don’t like that stat at all. It is not a safe way to compete and it’s not a smart way to keep our quarterback in good shape for the rest of the season. We’ve got to improve our performance.”
Josh Allen was sluggish to rise after a tackle in the first half. He said he was OK and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was asked about being hit so many times during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I ran into a few 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 lead the Texans. Another sack occurred when he nearly took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and the defender got up and pursued him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt early in the third.
Buffalo competed for a second consecutive matchup without receiver Keon Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was late to a squad gathering before their last game. He was previously held out for the opening drive of a loss to New England in the fifth week after also being delayed for a meeting.
No change. We’re just approaching it day by day,” McDermott said. “I thought he had a better week, but we are handling it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we opted for the players that provide the best chance.”
Khalil Shakir led the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a score.
Allen was disappointed that the Bills were unable to make plays in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we’ve got perform, and we failed to do a good job of that tonight,” he concluded. “No matter the situation and whatever circumstance, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”
