Little went well for the Bills' quarterback in a frustrating game Thursday night against the Texans.
Yet he came close to driving the Bills to a victory before an late pick in the final minute ended their hopes in a close defeat.
Allen endured consecutive sacks on the team's final possession, resulting in a long fourth down, but Buffalo (with seven wins) picked up significant yardage on a quick throw from Josh Allen to a receiver, who flipped a lateral to another teammate.
After a pre-snap infraction created a fourth down situation for Buffalo, a Texans defender intercepted the quarterback's pass at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds remaining.
“We had a chance to come out on top there at the end,” Josh Allen said. “Our team performed a solid job of hanging tough and our defense saved us a few instances. We’ve got find a way, 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 passed for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and zero scores after producing six TDs in a win over the Buccaneers the previous week.
Whenever they pressure our QB 12 times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach Sean McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It is not a healthy 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.”
Allen was slow to rise after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He said he was fine and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being contacted so many times on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I ran into a couple personally. I need to be more effective at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I was going backwards.”
The Bills' QB surrendered 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half tackles for loss to top the Houston defense. His second one occurred when he nearly sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and the defender got up and pursued him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt in the third quarter.
The Bills played for a second consecutive matchup without receiver Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was late to a squad gathering before their last game. He was earlier held out for the opening drive of a defeat to New England in the fifth week after also being delayed for a team session.
“Nothing new. We’re just taking it one day at a time,” McDermott said. “I felt he had a improved week, but we are handling it step by step. It was not that it was ignored, but we went with the guys that give us the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir led the Bills with eight receptions for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
Allen was frustrated that the team were unable to execute in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we must perform, and we failed to succeed of that this evening,” he said. “Whatever situation and any circumstance, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we came up short.”
