Very little clicked for Josh Allen in a disappointing game Thursday night against the Texans.
And still he nearly managed to willing the Buffalo Bills to a win before an late pick in the final minute sealed their fate in a 23-19 loss.
The quarterback took consecutive sacks on the Bills’ final possession, resulting in a long fourth down, but the Bills (with seven wins) picked up 44 yards on a quick throw from Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a lateral to another teammate.
Following a false-start penalty led to a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, a Texans defender intercepted Allen’s pass at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds left.
“We had a chance to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen said. “Our team performed a solid job of staying in it and our defensive unit bailed us out a few instances. We’ve got find a way, and we didn’t.”
Proved tough for the signal-caller to get anything going on a night he was brought down a career-high eight times and pressured four additional instances. The QB passed for 253 yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after producing six TDs in a victory over the Buccaneers last week.
Whenever they pressure our quarterback a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach 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 keep our field general healthy for the remaining games. We’ve got to play better.”
Josh Allen was slow to rise after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He said he was OK and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was asked about being hit so many times during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I encountered a couple myself. I’ve got to be better at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I was losing ground.”
The Bills' QB surrendered 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half sacks to top the Houston defense. His second one occurred when he almost took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and Anderson got up and pursued him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt early in the third.
Buffalo played for a second consecutive matchup absent wideout Keon Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their last game. He was previously benched for the opening drive of a defeat to the Patriots in Week 5 after additionally being late for a meeting.
“Nothing new. We are approaching it day by day,” McDermott said. “I felt 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.”
Khalil Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
Allen was disappointed that the Bills couldn’t execute in crucial moments.
In the end, we’ve got execute, and we didn’t succeed of that tonight,” he concluded. “Whatever situation and whatever condition, we need to find a way, and we didn’t.”
