Little went right for Josh Allen in a frustrating contest on Thursday evening versus the Texans.
Yet he came close to driving the Bills to a win before an late pick in the last moments sealed their fate in a 23-19 defeat.
The quarterback endured back-to-back sacks on the team's final possession, resulting in a long fourth down, but the Bills (7-4) gained significant yardage on a short pass from Allen to a receiver, who flipped a lateral to Khalil Shakir.
Following a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, a Texans defender picked off Allen’s pass at the Houston 9 with under half a minute left.
We possessed a opportunity to come out on top there at the end,” Josh Allen stated. “We did a good job of hanging tough and our defense bailed us out a couple of times. We must find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was tough for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a evening he was brought down a personal-worst eight times and hit four additional instances. The QB threw for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after producing six TDs in a victory over the Buccaneers last week.
Whenever they pressure our quarterback 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach Sean McDermott commented. “I don’t like that stat at all. It is not a safe way to compete and it’s not a good way to keep our field general healthy for the remaining games. We need to improve our performance.”
Allen was sluggish to rise after a sack in the first half. He indicated he was fine and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being hit so frequently on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I encountered a few personally. I’ve got to be more effective at disposing of the football. Too many times, I found myself going backwards.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half sacks to lead the Texans. Another sack came when he almost took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and the defender rose and chased him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt in the third quarter.
Buffalo competed for a second straight game absent receiver 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 opening drive of a defeat to New England in Week 5 after also being late for a team session.
“Nothing new. We’re just approaching it one day at a time,” McDermott noted. “I thought he had a improved week, but we’re handling it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we went with the players that provide the best chance.”
Khalil Shakir topped the Bills with eight receptions for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
Allen was disappointed that the team couldn’t make plays in crucial moments.
In the end, we must execute, and we failed to do a good job of that tonight,” he said. “No matter the situation and whatever condition, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”
