Very little went well for the Bills' quarterback in a tough contest Thursday night versus the Houston Texans.
And still he came close to driving the Buffalo Bills to a win before an late pick in the final minute sealed their fate in a 23-19 defeat.
Allen endured consecutive tackles for loss on the Bills’ final possession, resulting in a long fourth down, but Buffalo (7-4) gained 44 yards on a short pass from Josh Allen to a receiver, who tossed a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.
After a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth down situation for the Bills, Calen Bullock picked off Allen’s pass at the 9-yard line with under half a minute remaining.
We possessed a opportunity to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen said. “We did a solid job of staying in it and our defensive unit bailed us out a couple of times. We’ve got find a way, and we didn’t.”
It was tough for Allen to establish rhythm on a evening he was sacked a career-high 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 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 healthy way to play and it isn't a good way to preserve our quarterback in good shape 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 OK and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being contacted so many times during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I ran into a couple myself. I’ve got to be more effective at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I found myself going backwards.”
Allen lost 70 yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had two and a half tackles for loss to top the Houston defense. His second one occurred when he nearly took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and Anderson got up and pursued him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt in the third quarter.
The Bills competed for a second straight game without 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 loss to New England in the fifth week after also being late for a team session.
No change. We are taking it day by day,” McDermott noted. “I felt he had a improved week, but we’re handling it one day at a time. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the guys that give us the best chance.”
Shakir led the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
Allen was frustrated that the team couldn’t execute down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we’ve got perform, and we didn’t do a good job of that tonight,” he said. “Whatever scenario and whatever condition, we need to find a way, and we came up short.”
