Little clicked for Josh Allen in a tough contest Thursday night against the Houston Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to driving the Bills to a win before an late pick in the final minute sealed their fate in a 23-19 defeat.
The quarterback took consecutive tackles for loss on the team's final possession, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (7-4) gained significant yardage on a short pass from Josh Allen to a receiver, who flipped a lateral to another teammate.
Following a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, a Texans defender picked off the quarterback's pass at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds left.
We possessed a opportunity to win it there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen stated. “Our team performed a good job of staying in it and our defense saved us a couple of times. We must find a way, and we didn’t.”
It was tough for Allen to establish rhythm on a evening he was brought down a personal-worst on eight occasions and pressured four additional instances. The QB threw for 253 yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after producing six TDs in a win over Tampa Bay last week.
“When they pressure our quarterback 12 times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach McDermott said. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It is not a healthy way to compete and it’s not a smart way to preserve our quarterback healthy for the remaining games. We’ve got to play better.”
Josh Allen was slow to get up after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He said he was fine and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being hit so frequently during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I encountered a couple myself. I’ve got to be more effective at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I was going backwards.”
Allen lost 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half sacks to lead the Texans. Another sack occurred when he nearly sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and the defender got up and chased him downfield 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 wideout 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 first series of a loss to New England in the fifth week after additionally being late for a team session.
“Nothing new. We’re just taking it one day at a time,” McDermott noted. “I thought he had a better week, but we’re handling it step by step. It was not that it was ignored, but we opted for the guys that give us the optimal opportunity.”
Khalil Shakir led the Bills with eight catches for 110 yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
Allen was disappointed that the team couldn’t make plays in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we’ve got perform, and we failed to do a good job of that this evening,” he concluded. “Whatever scenario and whatever condition, we need to find a way, and we came up short.”
