Little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a tough game Thursday night against the Houston Texans.
And still he came close to driving the Bills to a win before an late pick in the last moments sealed their fate in a 23-19 loss.
The quarterback took consecutive sacks on the Bills’ final possession, leading to a long fourth down, but Buffalo (with seven wins) picked up 44 yards on a short pass from Allen to a receiver, who tossed a backward pass to another teammate.
After a false-start penalty led to a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, Calen Bullock intercepted Allen’s pass at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds left.
“We had a chance 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 saved us a few instances. We’ve got figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was tough for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a night he was sacked a career-high on eight occasions and pressured four additional instances. Allen passed for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after producing six TDs in a win over the Buccaneers last week.
“When they pressure our QB 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott said. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It’s just not a healthy way to compete and it isn't a good way to preserve our quarterback healthy for the rest of the season. We’ve got to play better.”
Allen was slow to rise after a tackle in the first half. He said he was fine and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being hit so frequently on Thursday.
“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I encountered a couple myself. I need to be better at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I was losing ground.”
The Bills' QB surrendered 70 yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 sacks to lead the Houston defense. Another sack came when he nearly took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and the defender rose and chased him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt early in the third.
The Bills played for a second straight game absent wideout Keon Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was late to a squad gathering before their last game. He was previously held out 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 approaching it one day at a time,” the coach said. “I felt he had a improved week, but we are handling it step by step. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we opted for the guys that give us the best chance.”
Shakir topped the Bills with eight receptions for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.
Allen was disappointed that the team couldn’t execute down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we’ve got perform, and we failed to succeed of that this evening,” he concluded. “Whatever scenario and any circumstance, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we came up short.”
