Very little clicked for Josh Allen in a frustrating game on Thursday evening against the Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to willing the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an late pick in the final minute ended their hopes in a close loss.
Allen took back-to-back sacks on the team's last drive, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (7-4) picked up 44 yards on a quick throw from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a backward pass to another teammate.
After a false-start penalty created a fourth down situation for the Bills, a Texans defender intercepted Allen’s pass at the Houston 9 with under half a minute remaining.
We possessed a chance to come out on top there at the end,” Josh Allen stated. “Our team performed a solid job of hanging tough and our defense bailed us out a couple of times. We must find a way, and we didn’t.”
It was difficult for Allen to establish rhythm on a evening he was brought down a career-high eight times and hit four additional instances. Allen threw for 253 yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after producing six TDs in a win over Tampa Bay the previous week.
Whenever they pressure our quarterback 12 times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “I don’t like that stat at all. It’s just not a safe way to play and it’s not a smart way to keep our quarterback in good shape for the remaining games. We’ve got to improve our performance.”
Josh 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 on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I ran into a couple personally. I’ve got to be better at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I was losing ground.”
Allen lost 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half tackles for loss to top the Texans. His second one came when he almost took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and the defender rose and chased him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt early in the third.
The Bills competed for a second straight game without receiver Keon Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was tardy to a team meeting before their last game. He was earlier held out for the opening drive of a defeat to the Patriots in the fifth week after also being delayed for a team session.
“Nothing new. We are taking it one day at a time,” the coach noted. “I felt he had a better week, but we are taking it step by step. It was not that it was ignored, but we opted for the players that provide the best chance.”
Khalil Shakir led the Buffalo with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
Allen was frustrated that the team were unable to execute down the stretch.
In the end, we must perform, and we didn’t do a good job of that tonight,” he said. “Whatever situation and any condition, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
