Very little went well for Josh Allen in a frustrating contest Thursday night versus the Houston Texans.
Yet he came close to willing the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an late pick in the last moments sealed their fate in a 23-19 loss.
The quarterback endured consecutive tackles for loss on the Bills’ final possession, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (7-4) picked up significant yardage on a short pass from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a lateral to Khalil Shakir.
After a false-start penalty created a fourth down situation for the Bills, a Texans defender intercepted the quarterback's throw at the 9-yard line with under half a minute left.
“We had a opportunity to win it there at the conclusion,” Allen stated. “We did a good job of hanging tough and our defensive unit saved us a couple of times. We must figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”
Proved difficult for Allen to get anything going on a night he was brought down a career-high on eight occasions and hit four other times. The QB passed for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after accounting for six TDs in a win over Tampa Bay the previous week.
“When they hit our quarterback 12 times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It is not a safe way to compete and it’s not a good way to preserve our quarterback healthy for the remaining games. We need to play better.”
Allen was sluggish to get up after a tackle in the first half. He indicated he was OK and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was asked about being contacted so many times on Thursday.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I encountered a couple personally. I’ve got to be better at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I found myself losing ground.”
Allen surrendered 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 tackles for loss to lead the Texans. Another sack came when he nearly took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and Anderson got up and chased him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt early in the third.
The Bills played 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 last game. He was earlier benched for the first series of a defeat to New England in the fifth week after also being late for a team session.
“Nothing new. We are taking it day by day,” the coach said. “I felt he had a improved week, but we are handling it step by step. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the players that provide the optimal opportunity.”
Khalil Shakir topped the Bills with eight catches for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
The quarterback was disappointed that the Bills were unable to make plays in crucial moments.
In the end, we must execute, and we didn’t succeed of that this evening,” he said. “Whatever scenario and whatever circumstance, we need to find a way, and we came up short.”
