Very little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a disappointing game on Thursday evening against the Texans.
And still he came close to willing the Bills to a win before an interception in the last moments sealed their fate in a 23-19 defeat.
Allen endured back-to-back tackles for loss on the team's last drive, leading to a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (with seven wins) gained 44 yards on a quick throw from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.
After a false-start penalty created a fourth down situation for the Bills, Calen Bullock intercepted the quarterback's throw at the 9-yard line with under half a minute left.
“We had a chance to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen said. “Our team performed a solid job of staying in it and our defensive unit bailed us out a few instances. We must find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was tough for Allen to get anything going on a evening he was brought down a personal-worst eight times and pressured four additional instances. Allen passed for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after accounting for six TDs in a win over Tampa Bay last week.
“When they pressure our quarterback a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It is not a healthy way to compete and it’s not a smart way to keep our field general healthy for the rest of the season. We need to improve our performance.”
Josh Allen was slow to get up after a sack in the first half. He said he was OK and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being hit so many times during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I encountered a few myself. I need to be more effective at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I found myself losing ground.”
Allen surrendered 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half tackles for loss to lead the Houston defense. His second one occurred when he nearly took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and the defender rose and chased him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt early in the third.
Buffalo competed for a second straight game without wideout Keon Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was tardy to a team meeting before their last game. He was previously held out for the first series of a defeat to the Patriots in the fifth week after additionally being delayed for a team session.
No change. We are approaching it one day at a time,” the coach said. “I felt he had a improved week, but we are handling it step by step. It was not that it was ignored, but we went with the players that give us the optimal opportunity.”
Khalil Shakir led the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
The quarterback was disappointed that the team were unable to execute down the stretch.
In the end, we must execute, and we failed to do a good job of that tonight,” he said. “No matter the situation and any circumstance, we need to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
