Little clicked for Josh Allen in a tough game Thursday night versus the Texans.
And still he came close to willing the Buffalo Bills to a win before an late pick in the final minute ended their hopes in a close loss.
Allen took consecutive sacks on the team's final possession, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (with seven wins) gained significant yardage on a short pass from Allen to a receiver, who tossed a backward pass to another teammate.
Following a pre-snap infraction created a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, Calen Bullock picked off Allen’s pass at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds remaining.
We possessed a opportunity to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Allen stated. “We did a solid job of staying in it and our defense bailed us out a couple of times. We must figure it out, and we didn’t.”
Proved tough for the signal-caller to get anything going on a evening he was sacked a personal-worst eight times and hit four additional instances. The QB passed for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after accounting for six TDs in a win over Tampa Bay the previous week.
Whenever they pressure our quarterback a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott said. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It is not a safe way to compete and it’s not a smart way to preserve our quarterback healthy for the remaining games. We need to improve our performance.”
Josh Allen was slow to rise after a sack in the first half. He said he was OK and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was asked about being contacted so frequently during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I encountered a couple myself. I need to be more effective at disposing of the football. Too many times, I was going backwards.”
Allen surrendered 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 tackles for loss to lead the Texans. His second one came when he nearly took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and Anderson got up and chased him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt in the third quarter.
The Bills played for a second straight game absent wideout Keon Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was late to a squad gathering before their last game. He was earlier benched for the opening drive of a loss to New England in Week 5 after also being delayed for a team session.
No change. We are taking it one day at a time,” the coach said. “I thought he had a improved week, but we’re taking it step by step. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we opted for the guys that provide the optimal opportunity.”
Khalil Shakir led the Bills with eight receptions for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
Allen was disappointed that the team were unable to make plays in crucial moments.
In the end, we’ve got perform, and we failed to do a good job of that this evening,” he concluded. “No matter the situation and any circumstance, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”
