Little clicked for Josh Allen in a tough contest 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 23-19 defeat.
The quarterback endured back-to-back tackles for loss on the team's final possession, leading to a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (with seven wins) picked up 44 yards on a quick throw from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a lateral to another teammate.
After a pre-snap infraction created a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, a Texans defender picked off the quarterback's throw at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds remaining.
“We had a opportunity to win it there at the end,” Josh Allen said. “We did a good job of hanging tough and our defense bailed us out a couple of times. We must find a way, and we didn’t.”
Proved tough for Allen to get anything going on a evening he was brought down a career-high on eight occasions and hit four other times. Allen passed for 253 yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after producing six TDs in a victory over the Buccaneers last week.
Whenever they hit our quarterback a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott commented. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It’s just not a healthy way to play and it’s not a good way to preserve our field general in good shape for the rest of the season. We need to play better.”
Josh Allen was slow to rise after a sack in the first half. He indicated he was fine and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being contacted so frequently during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I ran into a couple myself. I’ve got to be better at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I found myself going backwards.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 sacks to lead the Texans. His second one came 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 loss to result in a punt early in the third.
The Bills played for a second consecutive matchup absent wideout Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was previously held out for the first series of a defeat to New England in Week 5 after additionally being late for a team session.
No change. We’re just taking it day by day,” McDermott noted. “I thought he had a better week, but we’re taking 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 Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 yards and a score.
The quarterback was frustrated that the team were unable to make plays down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we must perform, and we didn’t succeed of that tonight,” he concluded. “Whatever situation and whatever circumstance, we need to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
