Little went well for Josh Allen in a frustrating contest on Thursday evening against the Texans.
Yet he came close to willing the Buffalo Bills to a win before an interception in the final minute ended their hopes in a 23-19 loss.
The quarterback took consecutive tackles for loss on the Bills’ last drive, leading to a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (with seven wins) picked up significant yardage on a short pass from Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a lateral to another teammate.
After a false-start penalty created a fourth down situation for the Bills, Calen Bullock intercepted the quarterback's throw at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds left.
“We had a opportunity to come out on top there at the end,” Josh Allen said. “We did a solid job of hanging tough and our defense saved us a couple of times. We must figure it out, and we didn’t.”
Proved tough for Allen to establish rhythm on a evening he was sacked a career-high eight times and hit four other times. Allen threw for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after accounting for six touchdowns in a victory over the Buccaneers the previous week.
Whenever they hit our QB 12 times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach Sean McDermott commented. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It is not a safe way to play and it’s not a good way to keep our field general healthy for the rest of the season. We need to play better.”
Josh Allen was slow to get up after a tackle in the first half. He indicated he was OK and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being hit so frequently during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I ran into a couple myself. I’ve got to be better at disposing of the football. Too many times, I found myself losing ground.”
Allen lost 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Anderson had two and a half tackles for loss to top the Houston defense. His second one occurred when he nearly sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and the defender rose and chased him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt early in the third.
Buffalo competed for a second consecutive matchup absent wideout Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was tardy to a team meeting before their last game. He was previously benched for the opening drive of a loss to New England in the fifth week after additionally being delayed for a meeting.
No change. We’re just taking it one day at a time,” the coach said. “I thought he had a improved week, but we are handling it step by step. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we went with the guys that give us the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir led the Bills with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
Allen was frustrated that the Bills couldn’t execute down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we’ve got execute, and we failed to succeed of that this evening,” he said. “Whatever situation and any condition, we need to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
