Very little clicked for Josh Allen in a frustrating contest on Thursday evening against the Houston Texans.
And still he came close to willing the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an late pick in the final minute sealed their fate in a close defeat.
Allen endured back-to-back tackles for loss on the team's final possession, resulting in a long fourth down, but the Bills (with seven wins) picked up significant yardage on a short pass from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a backward pass to another teammate.
After a pre-snap infraction created a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, a Texans defender intercepted Allen’s pass at the 9-yard line with under half a minute left.
We possessed a chance to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen said. “We did a solid job of hanging tough and our defensive unit bailed us out a couple of times. We must find a way, and we didn’t.”
It was difficult for Allen to establish rhythm on a night he was sacked a career-high eight times and hit four other times. Allen threw for 253 yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after producing six touchdowns in a win over the Buccaneers last week.
“When they pressure our quarterback a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It’s just not a safe way to play and it isn't a smart way to keep our field general in good shape for the remaining games. We’ve got 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 left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was asked about being contacted so many times during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I ran into a couple personally. I’ve got to be better at disposing of the football. Too many times, I was losing ground.”
Allen surrendered 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 sacks to lead the Texans. His second one occurred when he almost sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and Anderson rose and chased him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt in the third quarter.
Buffalo played for a second consecutive matchup without wideout Keon Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was late to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was previously benched for the opening drive of a defeat to the Patriots in the fifth week after also being delayed for a meeting.
“Nothing new. We are taking it one day at a time,” McDermott noted. “I thought he had a better week, but we’re handling it one day at a time. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the guys that give us the optimal opportunity.”
Khalil Shakir led the Buffalo with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a score.
Allen was frustrated that the team couldn’t execute in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we’ve got perform, and we didn’t succeed of that this evening,” he said. “No matter the scenario and whatever condition, we need to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
