Very little went well for Josh Allen in a frustrating contest on Thursday evening against the Texans.
And still he nearly managed to willing the Buffalo Bills to a win before an late pick in the final minute ended their hopes in a close loss.
The quarterback endured consecutive sacks on the team's last drive, leading to a long fourth down, but the Bills (with seven wins) gained significant yardage on a short pass from Josh Allen to a receiver, who flipped a lateral to another teammate.
Following a false-start penalty created a fourth down situation for the Bills, a Texans defender intercepted the quarterback's throw at the Houston 9 with under half a minute remaining.
We possessed a chance to win it there at the end,” Allen stated. “Our team performed a good job of staying in it and our defense bailed us out a couple of times. We’ve got figure it out, and we didn’t.”
Proved tough for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a evening he was sacked a career-high on eight occasions and pressured four other times. Allen threw for 253 yards with two interceptions and zero scores after producing six TDs in a victory over Tampa Bay the previous week.
“When they pressure our QB a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott said. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It’s just not a safe way to play and it isn't a good way to keep our quarterback in good shape for the rest of the season. We need to improve our performance.”
Allen was sluggish to rise after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was OK and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being contacted so frequently on Thursday.
“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I encountered a few personally. I’ve got to be more effective at disposing of the football. Too many times, I was losing ground.”
Allen surrendered 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 sacks to lead the Texans. Another sack came when he nearly sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and Anderson rose and pursued him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt in the third quarter.
The Bills competed for a second consecutive matchup absent wideout Keon Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was late to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was earlier held out for the first series of a loss to the Patriots in the fifth week after also being delayed for a meeting.
No change. We are taking it day by day,” the coach said. “I felt he had a improved week, but we’re taking it step by step. It was not that it was ignored, but we opted for the guys that provide the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir led the Buffalo with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
The quarterback was disappointed that the team were unable to make plays in crucial moments.
In the end, we must execute, and we failed to do a good job of that tonight,” he said. “Whatever situation and whatever circumstance, we need to find a way, and we didn’t.”
