Little went right for the Bills' quarterback in a tough contest Thursday night against the Houston Texans.
Yet he came close to driving the Bills to a victory before an late pick in the final minute sealed their fate in a 23-19 loss.
Allen took back-to-back tackles for loss on the team's last drive, resulting in a long fourth down, but the Bills (7-4) gained significant yardage on a quick throw from Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a lateral to Khalil Shakir.
After a pre-snap infraction created a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, a Texans defender intercepted Allen’s pass at the Houston 9 with under half a minute left.
“We had a chance to come out on top there at the end,” Josh Allen said. “We did a solid job of staying in it and our defense saved us a couple of times. We’ve got find a way, and we didn’t.”
Proved tough for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a night he was brought down a personal-worst eight times and pressured four additional instances. The QB passed for 253 yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after producing six TDs in a victory over the Buccaneers the previous week.
“When they hit our quarterback a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach Sean McDermott commented. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It’s just not a healthy way to play and it isn't a smart way to preserve our quarterback in good shape for the rest of the season. We’ve got to improve our performance.”
Allen was sluggish to rise after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He said he was OK and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was asked about being contacted so many times on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I encountered a couple personally. I need to be better at disposing of the football. Too many times, I was losing ground.”
The Bills' QB surrendered 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Anderson had 2.5 tackles for loss to lead the Texans. His second one occurred when he nearly sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and Anderson got up and chased him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt in the third quarter.
Buffalo played for a second straight game without receiver Keon Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their last game. He was previously benched for the first series of a loss to New England in the fifth week after also being late for a meeting.
“Nothing new. We are taking it one day at a time,” the coach said. “I thought he had a improved week, but we are handling it step by step. It was not that it was ignored, but we opted for the guys that provide the best chance.”
Khalil Shakir led the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
Allen was disappointed that the Bills couldn’t execute down the stretch.
In the end, we must execute, and we failed to do a good job of that tonight,” he concluded. “No matter the scenario and any circumstance, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”
