Little clicked for Josh Allen in a disappointing contest on Thursday evening versus the Houston Texans.
And still he nearly managed to driving the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an late pick in the last moments sealed their fate in a 23-19 defeat.
The quarterback took back-to-back sacks on the Bills’ final possession, leading to a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (7-4) gained 44 yards on a quick throw from Allen to a receiver, who flipped a lateral to Khalil Shakir.
Following a pre-snap infraction created a fourth down situation for the Bills, a Texans defender intercepted Allen’s throw at the Houston 9 with under half a minute left.
We possessed a chance to win it there at the end,” Josh Allen stated. “We did a solid job of staying in it and our defensive unit bailed us out a couple of times. We must figure it out, and we didn’t.”
Proved difficult for Allen to establish rhythm on a evening he was sacked a career-high eight times and pressured four additional instances. Allen threw for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and zero scores after producing six TDs in a victory over Tampa Bay last week.
“When they hit our quarterback a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott commented. “I don’t like that stat at all. It’s just not a safe way to compete and it’s not a smart way to keep our quarterback in good shape for the rest of the season. We’ve got to play better.”
Josh Allen was sluggish to rise after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was OK and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being hit so many times on Thursday.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I encountered a couple personally. I’ve got to be better at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I was losing ground.”
Allen lost 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had two and a half sacks to lead the Texans. His second one occurred when he nearly took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and the defender rose and chased him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt in the third quarter.
Buffalo played for a second straight game absent wideout Keon Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was tardy to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was previously held out for the opening drive of a defeat to New England in the fifth week after additionally being late for a team session.
“Nothing new. We’re just taking it day by day,” the coach noted. “I thought he had a improved week, but we are handling it step by step. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we went with the players that provide the optimal opportunity.”
Khalil Shakir led the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 yards and Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.
Allen was disappointed that the Bills were unable to execute down the stretch.
In the end, we’ve got perform, and we didn’t succeed of that tonight,” he concluded. “No matter the situation and whatever condition, we need to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
