Very little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a disappointing contest on Thursday evening versus the Houston Texans.
Yet he came close to driving the Bills to a win before an late pick in the final minute sealed their fate in a close loss.
Allen endured back-to-back sacks on the Bills’ final possession, leading to a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (with seven wins) picked up 44 yards on a short pass from Allen to a receiver, who tossed a lateral to another teammate.
After a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth down situation for the Bills, a Texans defender picked off the quarterback's throw at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds remaining.
We possessed a opportunity to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Allen said. “We did a solid job of hanging tough and our defense saved us a few instances. We must figure it out, and we didn’t.”
Proved tough for Allen to get anything going on a evening he was sacked a personal-worst on eight occasions and hit four additional instances. The QB threw for 253 yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after producing six touchdowns in a win over the Buccaneers last week.
Whenever they pressure our QB a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach McDermott said. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It is not a safe way to play and it isn't a good way to keep our quarterback healthy for the remaining games. We’ve got 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 “went a little numb” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being contacted so frequently on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I encountered a couple myself. I need to be better at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I found myself losing ground.”
Allen lost 70 yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had two and a half sacks to lead the Texans. His second one came when he almost took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and Anderson rose and chased him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt early in the third.
Buffalo competed for a second consecutive matchup without receiver Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was earlier benched for the opening drive of a defeat to New England in Week 5 after additionally being late for a meeting.
No change. We are taking it one day at a time,” McDermott said. “I thought he had a improved week, but we’re handling it step by step. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we went with the guys that provide the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir led the Bills with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
Allen was disappointed that the team couldn’t make plays down the stretch.
In the end, we must perform, and we failed to succeed of that this evening,” he said. “Whatever scenario and any condition, we need to find a way, and we didn’t.”
