Very little clicked for Josh Allen in a disappointing contest Thursday night against the Houston Texans.
Yet he came close to driving the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an late pick in the final minute ended their hopes in a 23-19 loss.
The quarterback endured back-to-back tackles for loss on the team's final possession, leading to a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (with seven wins) gained 44 yards on a quick throw from Allen to a receiver, who flipped a lateral to Khalil Shakir.
After a false-start penalty led to a fourth down situation for the Bills, Calen Bullock picked off the quarterback's pass at the Houston 9 with under half a minute remaining.
We possessed a chance to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen stated. “We did a good job of staying in it and our defensive unit bailed us out a couple of times. We’ve got find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
Proved difficult for Allen to establish rhythm on a evening he was brought down a career-high on eight occasions and hit four other times. Allen passed for 253 yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after accounting for six touchdowns in a victory over the Buccaneers the previous week.
Whenever they hit our quarterback a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It’s just not a healthy way to play and it’s not a smart way to keep our field general in good shape for the remaining games. We’ve got to improve our performance.”
Allen was slow to get up after a sack in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was fine and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being contacted so many times during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I encountered a few personally. I need to be more effective at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I found myself losing ground.”
Allen surrendered 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had 2.5 tackles for loss to lead the Texans. Another sack occurred when he nearly took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and Anderson got up and pursued him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt in the third quarter.
The Bills played for a second straight game without receiver Keon Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was late to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was earlier benched for the opening drive of a defeat to the Patriots in Week 5 after additionally being delayed for a meeting.
No change. We are approaching it one day at a time,” McDermott said. “I felt he had a improved week, but we’re taking it step by step. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the players that give us the optimal opportunity.”
Khalil Shakir led the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 yards and Cook had 116 yards and a score.
The quarterback was disappointed that the Bills were unable to execute down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we must execute, and we failed to succeed of that this evening,” he said. “No matter the scenario and whatever circumstance, we need to find a way, and we didn’t.”
