Little went right for the Bills' quarterback in a frustrating contest on Thursday evening versus the Texans.
Yet he came close to willing the Bills to a win before an late pick in the last moments ended their hopes in a close defeat.
The quarterback endured consecutive sacks on the team's last drive, resulting in a long fourth down, but the Bills (with seven wins) picked up 44 yards on a quick throw from Josh Allen to a receiver, who tossed a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.
Following a false-start penalty led to a fourth down situation for Buffalo, a Texans defender picked off Allen’s throw at the 9-yard line with under half a minute left.
We possessed a opportunity to win it there at the end,” Allen stated. “We did a good job of staying in it and our defensive unit bailed us out a couple of times. We’ve got find a way, and we didn’t.”
Proved tough for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a evening he was brought down a personal-worst on eight occasions and pressured four other times. Allen passed for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after accounting for six touchdowns in a victory over Tampa Bay last week.
Whenever they pressure our quarterback 12 times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach Sean McDermott commented. “I don’t like that stat at all. It’s just not a safe way to play and it isn't a smart way to keep our quarterback healthy for the remaining games. We’ve got to play better.”
Allen was slow to rise after a sack in the first half. He indicated he was fine and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being contacted so many times on Thursday.
“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I ran into a couple myself. I’ve got to be better at disposing of the football. Too many times, I was going backwards.”
Allen lost 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had two and a half tackles for loss to top the Houston defense. Another sack occurred when he nearly took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and Anderson rose and chased him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt early in the third.
The Bills played for a second straight game absent receiver Keon Coleman after he was again a non-participant 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.
No change. We’re just approaching it one day at a time,” the coach noted. “I thought he had a improved week, but we’re handling it one day at a time. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the guys that provide the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir led the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
The quarterback was disappointed that the Bills were unable to execute down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we’ve got execute, and we didn’t do a good job of that tonight,” he concluded. “Whatever situation and whatever condition, we need to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
