Little went well for the Bills' quarterback in a frustrating game Thursday night versus the Texans.
Yet he came close to willing the Bills to a win before an late pick in the last moments sealed their fate in a close loss.
Allen took consecutive sacks on the Bills’ final possession, resulting in a long fourth down, but the Bills (7-4) picked up 44 yards on a short pass from Josh Allen to a receiver, who tossed a backward pass to another teammate.
Following a false-start penalty led to a fourth down situation for the Bills, a Texans defender intercepted Allen’s pass at the Houston 9 with under half a minute remaining.
“We had a chance to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Allen said. “Our team performed a good job of hanging tough and our defensive unit saved us a couple of times. We must figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was difficult for Allen to get anything going on a evening he was brought down a personal-worst eight times and pressured four additional instances. Allen passed for 253 yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after producing six TDs in a win over Tampa Bay the previous week.
“When they hit our QB a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It’s just not a safe way to play and it’s not a good way to preserve our quarterback in good shape for the remaining games. We need to play better.”
Allen was sluggish to rise after a tackle in the first half. He indicated he was OK and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was asked about being hit so frequently on Thursday.
“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I encountered a couple myself. I’ve got to be better at disposing of the football. Too many times, I found myself losing ground.”
Allen lost 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half tackles for loss to lead the Texans. His second one occurred when he almost sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and Anderson rose and pursued him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt in the third quarter.
The Bills competed for a second straight game absent receiver Keon Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was late to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was previously benched for the opening drive of a defeat to New England in Week 5 after also being late for a meeting.
“Nothing new. We are approaching it one day at a time,” the coach noted. “I thought he had a improved week, but we’re taking it step by step. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the guys that provide the best chance.”
Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight catches for 110 yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
The quarterback was disappointed that the team were unable to make plays in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we’ve got perform, and we didn’t do a good job of that this evening,” he said. “No matter the situation and any circumstance, we need to discover a solution, and we came up short.”
