Very little went well for Josh Allen in a tough game on Thursday evening against the Houston Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to willing the Buffalo Bills to a win before an late pick in the last moments ended their hopes in a close loss.
Allen took back-to-back tackles for loss on the Bills’ final possession, leading to a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (7-4) gained significant yardage on a quick throw from Josh Allen to a receiver, who flipped a lateral to another teammate.
Following a false-start penalty led to a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, Calen Bullock picked off the quarterback's throw at the 9-yard line with under half a minute remaining.
We possessed a opportunity to win it there at the end,” Josh Allen stated. “Our team performed a good job of staying in it and our defensive unit bailed us out a few instances. We must find a way, and we didn’t.”
Proved difficult for Allen to get anything going on a evening he was sacked a personal-worst on eight occasions and hit four additional instances. Allen passed for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and zero scores after producing six TDs in a victory over the Buccaneers the previous week.
Whenever they pressure our quarterback a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach McDermott commented. “I don’t like that stat at all. It’s just not a safe way to compete and it isn't a good way to keep our field general in good shape for the remaining games. We need to play better.”
Allen was slow to get up after a tackle in the first half. He indicated he was OK and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being contacted so many times on Thursday.
“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I encountered a couple myself. I need to be better at disposing of the football. Too many times, I found myself losing ground.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had two and a half sacks to lead the Houston defense. His second one 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 without wideout Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was late to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was earlier benched for the opening drive of a defeat to New England in the fifth week after also being delayed for a meeting.
No change. We’re just approaching it one day at a time,” McDermott said. “I thought he had a better week, but we are taking it step by step. It was not that it was ignored, but we went with the guys that provide the best chance.”
Khalil Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a score.
Allen was frustrated that the Bills were unable to execute down the stretch.
In the end, we must execute, and we failed to succeed of that tonight,” he said. “No matter the situation and any condition, we’ve got to find a way, and we came up short.”
