Little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a disappointing game on Thursday evening versus the Texans.
And still he nearly managed to driving the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an late pick in the final minute sealed their fate in a close defeat.
The quarterback took back-to-back tackles for loss on the Bills’ last drive, leading to a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (7-4) picked up 44 yards on a quick throw from Allen to a receiver, who flipped a lateral to another teammate.
After a false-start penalty created a fourth down situation for the Bills, Calen Bullock intercepted the quarterback's throw at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds remaining.
“We had a opportunity to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Allen stated. “Our team performed a good job of staying in it and our defensive unit bailed us out a couple of times. We must find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
Proved difficult for the signal-caller to get anything going on a evening he was brought down a personal-worst eight times and hit four other times. Allen threw for 253 yards with two interceptions and zero scores after accounting for six touchdowns in a victory over the Buccaneers last week.
“When they hit our quarterback a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach McDermott said. “I don’t like that stat at all. It is not a healthy way to compete and it isn't a smart way to keep our quarterback in good shape for the rest of the season. We need to improve our performance.”
Josh Allen was slow to get up after a tackle in the first half. He said he was OK and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being hit so many times during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I ran into a few personally. I need to be more effective at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I found myself losing ground.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Anderson had two and a half tackles for loss to lead the Texans. His second one occurred when he nearly sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and the defender rose and chased him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt early in the third.
The Bills played for a second straight game without wideout Keon Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was late to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was previously benched for the first series of a loss to New England in Week 5 after also being delayed for a team session.
No change. We are approaching it day by day,” the coach said. “I thought he had a better week, but we’re handling it step by step. It was not that it was ignored, but we opted for the guys that provide the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir led the Buffalo with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
Allen was frustrated that the team couldn’t execute in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we must execute, and we didn’t succeed of that tonight,” he concluded. “No matter the scenario and any condition, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”
