Little clicked for Josh Allen in a disappointing contest on Thursday evening against the Houston Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to willing the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an interception in the final minute sealed their fate in a 23-19 loss.
The quarterback endured consecutive sacks on the team's final possession, leading to a long fourth down, but the Bills (with seven wins) picked up 44 yards on a short pass from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a backward pass to another teammate.
After a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, Calen Bullock intercepted Allen’s throw at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds remaining.
We possessed a opportunity to win it there at the end,” Josh Allen stated. “Our team performed a good job of hanging tough and our defense saved us a few instances. We’ve got figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was tough for the signal-caller to get anything going on a evening he was brought down a personal-worst on eight occasions and hit four other times. The QB threw for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after accounting for six TDs in a win over the Buccaneers last week.
Whenever they hit our quarterback a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “I don’t like that stat at all. It is not a safe way to play and it isn't a good way to keep our field general in good shape for the remaining games. We need to improve our performance.”
Josh Allen was slow to rise after a sack in the opening two quarters. He said he was OK and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being hit so many times during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I encountered a couple myself. I’ve got to be more effective at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I found myself going backwards.”
Allen surrendered 70 yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half sacks to top the Houston defense. Another sack came when he almost took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and Anderson rose and pursued him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt early in the third.
Buffalo competed for a second straight game absent receiver Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was tardy to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was earlier held out for the opening drive of a defeat to New England in Week 5 after additionally being late for a meeting.
No change. We’re just taking it day by day,” the coach noted. “I thought he had a better week, but we’re taking it step by step. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the players that give us the best chance.”
Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.
Allen was frustrated that the Bills were unable to make plays in crucial moments.
In the end, we must perform, and we failed to do a good job of that tonight,” he said. “No matter the scenario and any condition, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
