Little went well for Josh Allen in a frustrating game on Thursday evening against the Houston Texans.
And still he nearly managed to willing the Bills to a win before an interception in the last moments ended their hopes in a 23-19 loss.
Allen took consecutive tackles for loss on the team's last drive, resulting in a long fourth down, but Buffalo (7-4) picked up significant yardage on a short pass from Allen to a receiver, who flipped a lateral to another teammate.
Following a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth down situation for Buffalo, a Texans defender intercepted Allen’s throw at the 9-yard line with under half a minute left.
“We had a chance to win it there at the end,” Josh Allen stated. “We did a good job of staying in it and our defense saved us a couple of times. We must find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
Proved tough for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a evening he was brought down a personal-worst eight times and pressured four other times. The QB passed for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after producing six touchdowns in a win over the Buccaneers last week.
“When they pressure our QB 12 times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It is not a healthy way to compete and it’s not a smart way to keep our quarterback healthy for the rest of the season. We need to improve our performance.”
Josh Allen was sluggish to get up after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He said he was fine and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being hit so many times during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I encountered a few myself. I need to be more effective at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I was going backwards.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half sacks to top the Texans. Another sack occurred when he almost took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and the defender rose and pursued him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt early in the third.
Buffalo played for a second consecutive matchup without wideout Keon Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a team meeting before their last game. He was earlier benched for the opening drive of a loss to the Patriots in the fifth week after additionally being delayed for a meeting.
“Nothing new. We’re just approaching it one day at a time,” the coach noted. “I thought he had a better week, but we are taking it step by step. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the players that provide the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir led the Bills with eight receptions for 110 yards and Cook had 116 yards and a score.
Allen was frustrated that the team couldn’t execute down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we must perform, and we failed to succeed of that this evening,” he said. “No matter the scenario and any condition, we’ve got to find a way, and we came up short.”
