Very little went right for Josh Allen in a tough game on Thursday evening versus the Texans.
And still he nearly managed to willing the Bills to a victory before an interception in the final minute sealed their fate in a 23-19 defeat.
The quarterback endured back-to-back tackles for loss on the team's final possession, leading to a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (7-4) gained 44 yards on a short pass from Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a lateral to another teammate.
Following a false-start penalty created a fourth down situation for Buffalo, a Texans defender picked off Allen’s throw at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds remaining.
We possessed a opportunity to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen stated. “Our team performed a solid job of hanging tough and our defensive unit saved us a few instances. We’ve got figure it out, and we didn’t.”
Proved difficult for Allen to get anything going on a night he was sacked a career-high eight times and pressured four additional instances. The QB threw for 253 yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after producing six TDs in a win over Tampa Bay last week.
Whenever they hit our QB 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It’s just not a safe way to play and it’s not a smart way to keep our field general healthy for the remaining games. We need to improve our performance.”
Josh Allen was slow to get up after a sack in the first half. He said he was fine and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was asked about being hit so many times on Thursday.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I ran into a few myself. I’ve got to be better at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I found myself going backwards.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 tackles for loss to top the Texans. Another sack came when he almost sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and the defender got up and chased him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt early in the third.
Buffalo competed for a second straight game absent receiver Keon Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was previously held out 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’re just taking it one day at a time,” the coach said. “I thought he had a better week, but we are taking it step by step. It was not that it was ignored, but we went with the players that provide the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir topped the Bills with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
The quarterback was frustrated 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 whatever circumstance, we need to find a way, and we didn’t.”
