Very little clicked for Josh Allen in a tough contest Thursday night versus 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 defeat.
The quarterback took consecutive tackles for loss on the Bills’ final possession, leading to a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (7-4) picked up 44 yards on a quick throw from Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a lateral to another teammate.
After a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, a Texans defender intercepted the quarterback's pass at the Houston 9 with under half a minute left.
“We had a chance to come out on top there at the end,” Allen stated. “Our team performed a good job of staying in it and our defensive unit saved us a couple of times. We must find a way, and we didn’t.”
It was difficult for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a night he was sacked a personal-worst on eight occasions and hit four additional instances. Allen threw for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and zero scores after accounting for six touchdowns in a victory over the Buccaneers the previous week.
Whenever they hit our QB a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “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 quarterback healthy for the remaining games. We’ve got to play better.”
Josh Allen was slow to rise after a sack in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was OK and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being hit so many times on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I encountered a couple myself. I need to be better at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I was losing ground.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 sacks to top the Texans. His second one came when he nearly sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and the defender got up and pursued him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt early in the third.
The Bills played for a second straight game without wideout Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was late to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was previously benched for the opening drive of a loss to New England in Week 5 after additionally being late for a team session.
No change. We are approaching it one day at a time,” the coach noted. “I felt he had a improved week, but we’re taking it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the guys that give us the best chance.”
Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight catches for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.
The quarterback was frustrated that the Bills were unable to make plays in crucial moments.
In the end, we’ve got perform, and we didn’t do a good job of that tonight,” he said. “Whatever scenario and whatever circumstance, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we came up short.”
