Little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a tough contest on Thursday evening against the Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to driving the Bills to a win before an late pick in the final minute ended their hopes in a 23-19 loss.
The quarterback endured back-to-back sacks on the Bills’ last drive, resulting in a long fourth down, but Buffalo (with seven wins) picked up 44 yards on a quick throw from Josh Allen to a receiver, who flipped a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.
Following a false-start penalty created a fourth down situation for the Bills, Calen Bullock picked off the quarterback's pass at the 9-yard line with under half a minute remaining.
“We had a opportunity to win it there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen stated. “Our team performed a good job of hanging tough and our defensive unit bailed us out a few instances. We’ve got figure it out, and we didn’t.”
Proved tough for Allen to establish rhythm on a night he was brought down a career-high on eight occasions and pressured four additional instances. The QB threw for 253 yards with two interceptions and zero scores after producing six TDs in a win over Tampa Bay last week.
Whenever they pressure our quarterback 12 times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott commented. “I don’t like that stat at all. It is not a healthy way to play and it isn't a good way to preserve our quarterback healthy for the remaining games. We’ve got to play better.”
Allen was sluggish to rise after a sack in the first half. He indicated he was OK and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being contacted so many times during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I encountered a few personally. I’ve got to be more effective at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I was going backwards.”
Allen lost 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 tackles for loss to lead the Texans. Another sack occurred when he almost took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and Anderson rose and chased him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt early in the third.
Buffalo played for a second straight game absent wideout Keon Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was late to a squad gathering before their last game. He was previously benched for the opening drive of a loss to the Patriots in Week 5 after also being late for a team session.
“Nothing new. We are approaching it one day at a time,” McDermott noted. “I thought he had a better week, but we’re taking it step by step. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the players that give us the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir topped the Bills with eight receptions for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
Allen was frustrated that the team were unable to execute in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we must execute, and we failed to succeed of that this evening,” he concluded. “No matter the situation and any circumstance, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”
