Very little went right for Josh Allen in a tough contest on Thursday evening against the Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to willing the Bills to a win before an late pick in the final minute ended their hopes in a 23-19 defeat.
Allen endured consecutive sacks on the Bills’ final possession, leading to a long fourth down, but Buffalo (7-4) picked up 44 yards on a quick throw from Allen to a receiver, who tossed a lateral to Khalil Shakir.
Following a pre-snap infraction created a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, a Texans defender intercepted Allen’s pass at the 9-yard line with under half a minute left.
“We had a chance to come out on top there at the end,” Allen said. “Our team performed a good job of hanging tough and our defense bailed us out a couple of times. We’ve got find a way, and we didn’t.”
It was tough for the signal-caller to get anything going on a night he was brought down a career-high on eight occasions and hit four additional instances. The QB passed for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and zero scores after accounting for six TDs in a win over Tampa Bay the previous week.
Whenever they hit our quarterback a dozen 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 play and it isn't a smart way to keep our field general healthy for the rest of the season. We need to improve our performance.”
Josh Allen was slow to rise after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He said he was fine and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being hit so frequently during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I encountered a few personally. I’ve got to be better at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I was going backwards.”
The Bills' QB surrendered 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Anderson had 2.5 tackles for loss to top the Houston defense. Another sack came when he nearly sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and the defender rose and chased him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt early in the third.
Buffalo played for a second straight game without receiver Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was late to a squad gathering before their last game. He was previously benched for the first series of a loss to New England in the fifth week after additionally being late for a team session.
“Nothing new. We are taking it day by day,” McDermott noted. “I felt he had a better week, but we are handling it step by step. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the guys that provide the best chance.”
Khalil Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.
Allen was disappointed that the team couldn’t make plays down the stretch.
In the end, we’ve got execute, and we didn’t do a good job of that tonight,” he concluded. “Whatever situation and any circumstance, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we came up short.”
