Little went well for Josh Allen in a tough contest on Thursday evening versus the Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to willing the Bills to a victory before an interception in the last moments ended their hopes in a close loss.
The quarterback took consecutive sacks on the team's final possession, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (7-4) picked up significant yardage on a quick throw from Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a lateral to Khalil Shakir.
Following a false-start penalty created a fourth down situation for Buffalo, Calen Bullock picked off the quarterback's pass at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds remaining.
“We had a chance to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Allen stated. “Our team performed a solid job of hanging tough and our defense saved us a couple of times. We’ve got find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was tough for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a night he was sacked a personal-worst eight times and hit four additional instances. The QB passed for 253 yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after accounting for six TDs in a win over Tampa Bay last week.
Whenever they hit our QB a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach McDermott said. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It’s just not a safe way to compete and it’s not a smart way to preserve our quarterback in good shape for the remaining games. We’ve got to play better.”
Allen was sluggish to get up after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was OK and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being contacted so frequently during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I encountered a couple personally. I need to be better at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I found myself losing ground.”
Allen surrendered 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Anderson had two and a half tackles for loss to lead the Houston defense. His second one occurred when he almost sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and the defender got up and pursued him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt in the third quarter.
Buffalo played for a second consecutive matchup without receiver Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was late to a team meeting before their last game. He was earlier benched for the opening drive of a loss to the Patriots in the fifth week after also being delayed for a team session.
“Nothing new. We are taking it day by day,” McDermott noted. “I thought he had a better week, but we are handling it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we went with the guys that give us the optimal opportunity.”
Khalil Shakir topped the Bills with eight catches for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
Allen was frustrated that the team couldn’t make plays in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we must perform, and we failed to do a good job of that tonight,” he concluded. “Whatever situation and whatever circumstance, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”
