Very little clicked for Josh Allen in a disappointing game Thursday night versus the Texans.
And still he nearly managed to driving the Buffalo Bills to a win before an interception in the final minute ended their hopes in a 23-19 loss.
The quarterback endured back-to-back sacks on the Bills’ last drive, leading to a long fourth down, but Buffalo (with seven wins) picked up significant yardage on a quick throw from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.
After a pre-snap infraction created a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, a Texans defender intercepted Allen’s throw at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds remaining.
We possessed a opportunity to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen stated. “Our team performed a good job of staying in it and our defense saved us a few instances. We’ve got figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was tough for Allen to establish rhythm on a night he was brought down a personal-worst on eight occasions and pressured four additional instances. The QB threw for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after producing six TDs in a win over the Buccaneers the previous week.
“When they pressure our quarterback 12 times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach 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 preserve our quarterback in good shape for the rest of the season. We need to play better.”
Josh Allen was sluggish to rise after a sack in the first half. He indicated he was fine and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being contacted so many times on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I ran into a couple myself. I’ve got to be more effective at disposing of the football. Too many times, I was losing ground.”
Allen surrendered 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Anderson had 2.5 sacks to top the Houston defense. Another sack came when he almost sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and the defender rose and pursued him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt early in the third.
Buffalo competed for a second straight game absent wideout Keon Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was late to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was earlier benched for the first series of a defeat to New England in the fifth week after also being late for a meeting.
No change. We are approaching it one day at a time,” McDermott noted. “I thought he had a better week, but we are handling it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the guys that give us the optimal opportunity.”
Khalil Shakir led the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.
The quarterback was disappointed that the Bills were unable to execute down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we must perform, and we didn’t succeed of that tonight,” he concluded. “Whatever situation and any circumstance, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”
