Very little went well for the Bills' quarterback in a tough contest Thursday night versus the Texans.
And still he nearly managed to willing the Bills to a victory before an interception in the final minute sealed their fate in a 23-19 loss.
Allen took back-to-back sacks on the team's last drive, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (7-4) gained 44 yards on a quick throw from Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a lateral to Khalil Shakir.
After a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, Calen Bullock picked off Allen’s throw at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds left.
“We had 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 defensive unit bailed us out a few instances. We’ve got figure it out, and we didn’t.”
It was difficult for Allen to get anything going on a evening he was brought down a personal-worst eight times and hit four additional instances. Allen passed for 253 yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after producing six touchdowns in a win over the Buccaneers last week.
Whenever they hit our QB 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach McDermott said. “I don’t like that stat at all. It is not a healthy way to compete and it isn't a good way to preserve our field general healthy for the rest of the season. We need to improve our performance.”
Allen was sluggish to get up after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He said he was OK and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being hit so many times during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I encountered a couple myself. I’ve got to be better at disposing of the football. Too many times, I found myself going backwards.”
Allen surrendered 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half sacks to lead the Texans. Another sack occurred when he almost sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and the defender rose and pursued him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt in the third quarter.
The Bills played for a second straight game without wideout Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was previously held out for the first series of a loss to the Patriots in Week 5 after also being delayed for a team session.
“Nothing new. We are taking it one day at a time,” McDermott said. “I thought he had a better week, but we’re taking it one day at a time. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the players that give us the optimal opportunity.”
Khalil Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
The quarterback was frustrated that the Bills were unable to execute in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we must perform, and we failed to succeed of that tonight,” he concluded. “Whatever situation and any circumstance, we need to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
