Little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a frustrating 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 close defeat.
The quarterback endured back-to-back tackles for loss on the Bills’ final possession, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (7-4) gained significant yardage on a quick throw from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a lateral to Khalil Shakir.
Following a false-start penalty created a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, a Texans defender intercepted the quarterback's pass at the Houston 9 with under half a minute left.
We possessed a opportunity to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen said. “Our team performed a solid job of hanging tough and our defensive unit saved us a couple of times. We must figure it out, and we didn’t.”
Proved difficult for the signal-caller to get anything going on a evening he was sacked a career-high eight times and hit four other times. The QB passed for 253 yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after accounting for six TDs in a win over Tampa Bay last week.
“When they pressure our quarterback 12 times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It is not a safe way to compete and it isn't a smart way to preserve our quarterback healthy for the remaining games. We need to improve our performance.”
Josh Allen was slow to rise after a sack in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was fine and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was asked about being hit so many times during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I encountered a couple personally. I’ve got to be more effective at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I found myself losing ground.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had two and a half tackles for loss to top the Texans. His second one came when he almost took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and the defender got up and pursued him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt in the third quarter.
The Bills played for a second straight game absent receiver Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was late to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was previously held out for the first series of a defeat to the Patriots in the fifth week after additionally being late for a team session.
“Nothing new. We’re just approaching it one day at a time,” the coach said. “I felt he had a better week, but we are taking it one day at a time. It was not that it was ignored, but we went with the guys that give us the best chance.”
Khalil Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
Allen was disappointed that the Bills couldn’t make plays down the stretch.
In the end, we’ve got perform, and we didn’t succeed of that tonight,” he said. “No matter the situation and whatever circumstance, we need to find a way, and we didn’t.”
