Little went well for the Bills' quarterback in a disappointing contest on Thursday evening against the 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 close loss.
The quarterback endured back-to-back tackles for loss on the Bills’ final possession, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (with seven wins) gained significant yardage on a short pass from Josh Allen to a receiver, who tossed a backward pass to another teammate.
Following a false-start penalty led to a fourth down situation for Buffalo, a Texans defender intercepted the quarterback's pass at the 9-yard line with under half a minute remaining.
“We had a opportunity to come out on top there at the end,” Josh Allen said. “Our team performed a solid job of hanging tough and our defensive unit saved us a few instances. We’ve got find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was tough for the signal-caller to get anything going on a night he was brought down a career-high on eight occasions and pressured four additional instances. Allen passed for 253 yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after producing six TDs in a victory over the Buccaneers last week.
“When they hit our quarterback a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott commented. “I don’t like that stat at all. It is not a safe way to play and it isn't a smart way to keep our field general healthy for the rest of the season. We’ve got to play better.”
Josh Allen was slow to rise after a tackle in the first half. He said he was fine and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being contacted so many times during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I ran into a couple personally. I’ve got to be better at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I found myself going backwards.”
Allen lost 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Anderson had 2.5 sacks to lead the Houston defense. His second one occurred when he nearly took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and Anderson rose and pursued him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt in the third quarter.
The Bills competed for a second straight game absent receiver Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was earlier held out for the first series of a defeat to New England in the fifth week after additionally being delayed for a meeting.
“Nothing new. We are approaching it one day at a time,” the coach said. “I thought he had a improved week, but we are handling it one day at a time. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the players that give us the best chance.”
Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 yards and Cook had 116 yards and a score.
Allen was disappointed that the Bills were unable to make plays in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we’ve got perform, and we failed to do a good job of that this evening,” he concluded. “Whatever situation and whatever circumstance, we need to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
