Little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a tough game Thursday night versus the Houston Texans.
And still he nearly managed to willing the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an interception in the final minute ended their hopes in a close defeat.
The quarterback took back-to-back sacks on the Bills’ last drive, leading to a long fourth down, but Buffalo (7-4) gained significant yardage on a quick throw from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a lateral to Khalil Shakir.
Following a pre-snap infraction created a fourth down situation for Buffalo, Calen Bullock picked off Allen’s throw at the Houston 9 with under half a minute remaining.
“We had a chance to win it there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen said. “Our team performed a good job of hanging tough and our defensive unit bailed us out a few instances. We must figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was difficult for the signal-caller to get anything going on a night he was sacked a personal-worst eight times and pressured four additional instances. The QB passed for 253 yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after producing six touchdowns in a win over Tampa Bay the previous week.
Whenever they pressure our QB 12 times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It is not a healthy way to compete and it’s not a smart way to preserve our quarterback healthy for the rest of the season. We’ve got to play better.”
Josh Allen was slow to rise after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He said he was OK and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being contacted so many times during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I ran into a couple myself. I’ve got to be more effective at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I was going backwards.”
The Bills' QB surrendered 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 sacks to lead the Houston defense. Another sack came when he almost took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and the defender rose and pursued him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt in the third quarter.
The Bills competed for a second consecutive matchup without wideout Keon Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch 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 New England in Week 5 after also being late for a meeting.
“Nothing new. We’re just approaching it one day at a time,” the coach said. “I felt he had a better week, but we’re handling it one day at a time. It was not that it was ignored, but we went with the guys that give us the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir topped the Bills with eight receptions for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
Allen was frustrated that the Bills couldn’t make plays in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we must perform, and we failed to do a good job of that tonight,” he said. “Whatever situation and any circumstance, we need to find a way, and we didn’t.”
