Very little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a tough contest on Thursday evening against the Houston Texans.
Yet he came close to driving the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an interception in the last moments sealed their fate in a close loss.
The quarterback took back-to-back tackles for loss on the Bills’ last drive, leading to a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (7-4) picked up 44 yards on a quick throw from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a backward pass to another teammate.
After a false-start penalty created a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, Calen Bullock picked off Allen’s pass at the 9-yard line with under half a minute left.
We possessed a opportunity 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 saved us a few instances. We must find a way, and we didn’t.”
Proved difficult for Allen to get anything going on a night he was sacked a personal-worst eight times and pressured four additional instances. Allen passed for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and zero scores after producing six TDs in a win over the Buccaneers last week.
“When they pressure our QB 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It’s just not a healthy way to compete and it’s not a smart way to preserve our quarterback healthy for the rest of the season. We’ve got to improve our performance.”
Josh Allen was sluggish to rise after a sack 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 questioned about being hit so many times 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 found myself losing ground.”
Allen surrendered 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Anderson had 2.5 sacks to lead the Texans. His second one occurred when he almost sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and Anderson got up and chased him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt in the third quarter.
Buffalo played for a second straight game absent receiver Keon Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was tardy to a team meeting before their last game. He was earlier benched for the opening drive of a loss to the Patriots in Week 5 after additionally being late for a meeting.
No change. We are approaching it day by day,” the coach said. “I felt he had a better week, but we’re handling it step by step. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we went with the players that give us the optimal opportunity.”
Khalil Shakir led the Buffalo with eight catches for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
Allen 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 scenario and any condition, we need to find a way, and we came up short.”
