Very little went right for Josh Allen in a tough contest on Thursday evening versus the Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to driving the Bills to a win before an late pick in the last moments ended their hopes in a 23-19 defeat.
The quarterback took consecutive sacks on the team's last drive, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (with seven wins) gained significant yardage on a quick throw from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a lateral to Khalil Shakir.
Following a pre-snap infraction created a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, a Texans defender intercepted the quarterback's throw at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds remaining.
We possessed a opportunity to win it there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen said. “Our team performed a solid job of staying in it and our defensive unit saved us a couple of times. We must find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was difficult for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a evening he was sacked a career-high eight times and hit four other times. Allen threw for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after producing six touchdowns in a win over the Buccaneers the previous week.
“When they hit our QB 12 times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach Sean McDermott commented. “I don’t like that stat at all. It is not a safe way to compete and it isn't a smart way to keep our quarterback healthy for the remaining games. We need to play better.”
Josh Allen was sluggish to rise after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was OK and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being hit so frequently during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I ran into a few personally. I need to be more effective at disposing of the football. Too many times, I was going backwards.”
Allen lost 70 yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half sacks to lead the Texans. His second one occurred when he almost took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and Anderson rose and pursued him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt in the third quarter.
The Bills competed for a second consecutive matchup without wideout Keon Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was earlier benched for the first series of a loss to New England in Week 5 after additionally being delayed for a meeting.
“Nothing new. We are taking it day by day,” the coach said. “I thought he had a better 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 players that give us the best chance.”
Shakir led the Buffalo with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
The quarterback was disappointed that the team couldn’t execute in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we’ve got perform, and we didn’t succeed of that tonight,” he said. “Whatever scenario and any condition, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
