Very little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a disappointing game Thursday night versus the Houston Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to willing the Buffalo Bills to a win before an late pick in the last moments ended their hopes in a close defeat.
The quarterback endured back-to-back tackles for loss on the Bills’ last drive, resulting in a long fourth down, but the Bills (with seven wins) gained 44 yards on a short pass from Allen to a receiver, who tossed a lateral to another teammate.
Following a pre-snap infraction created a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, a Texans defender intercepted Allen’s throw at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds remaining.
We possessed a opportunity to win it there at the end,” Josh Allen stated. “Our team performed a good job of staying in it and our defensive unit bailed us out a couple of times. We’ve got find a way, and we didn’t.”
Proved difficult for Allen to get anything going on a evening he was brought down a career-high eight times and pressured four other times. Allen threw 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.
Whenever they pressure our QB 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It is not a healthy way to compete and it isn't a good way to preserve our field general healthy for the rest of the season. 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 fine and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was asked about being hit so frequently during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I encountered a few personally. I’ve got to be more effective at disposing of the football. Too many times, I was going backwards.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 sacks to lead the Houston defense. Another sack came when he almost took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and the defender rose and pursued him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt early in the third.
The Bills played for a second consecutive matchup without receiver Keon Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their last game. He was previously held out for the opening drive of a defeat to the Patriots in Week 5 after also being delayed for a team session.
“Nothing new. We’re just approaching it one day at a time,” McDermott said. “I felt he had a improved week, but we’re handling it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we opted for the players that provide the best chance.”
Khalil Shakir topped the Bills with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a score.
Allen was frustrated that the team were unable to execute down the stretch.
In the end, we’ve got perform, and we failed to succeed of that this evening,” he said. “No matter the scenario and any condition, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”
