Little went well for the Bills' quarterback in a disappointing game Thursday night against the Texans.
And still he nearly managed to willing the Bills to a win before an late pick in the final minute ended their hopes in a 23-19 defeat.
Allen took back-to-back sacks on the Bills’ last drive, leading to a long fourth down, but Buffalo (with seven wins) gained significant yardage on a quick throw from Josh Allen to a receiver, who tossed a lateral to another teammate.
Following a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, Calen Bullock picked off Allen’s throw at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds left.
We possessed a chance to win it there at the conclusion,” Allen stated. “Our team performed a good job of staying in it and our defensive unit bailed us out a couple of times. We must find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
Proved difficult for the signal-caller to get anything going on a evening he was brought down a career-high eight times and hit four additional instances. The QB passed for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after accounting for six TDs in a win over Tampa Bay last week.
“When they pressure our QB 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach McDermott said. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It is not a safe way to compete and it isn't a good way to preserve our field general healthy for the remaining games. We need to improve our performance.”
Josh Allen was sluggish to get up after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was OK and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was asked about being hit so many times on Thursday.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I encountered a few myself. I need to be better at disposing of the football. Too many times, I found myself going backwards.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had two and a half sacks to lead the Texans. Another sack came when he nearly sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and the defender rose and chased him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt in the third quarter.
Buffalo competed for a second consecutive matchup absent wideout Keon Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch 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.
No change. We are taking it one day at a time,” McDermott said. “I thought he had a improved week, but we’re taking it step by step. It was not that it was ignored, but we opted for the players that give us the best chance.”
Shakir topped the Bills with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.
Allen was disappointed that the Bills were unable to make plays in crucial moments.
In the end, we must perform, and we didn’t succeed of that tonight,” he concluded. “No matter the scenario and any condition, we need to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
