Little went well for the Bills' quarterback in a disappointing game on Thursday evening versus the Houston Texans.
Yet he came close to willing the Bills to a win before an interception in the last moments ended their hopes in a 23-19 loss.
The quarterback endured consecutive sacks on the team's final possession, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (7-4) picked up significant yardage on a quick throw from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a backward pass to another teammate.
Following a false-start penalty led to a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, Calen Bullock intercepted the quarterback's throw at the Houston 9 with under half a minute remaining.
We possessed a opportunity to win it there at the end,” Allen said. “We did a good job of staying in it and our defense saved us a few instances. We must figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was tough for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a evening he was sacked a personal-worst eight times and hit four other times. The QB passed for 253 yards with two interceptions and zero scores after accounting for six TDs in a win over Tampa Bay last week.
“When they pressure our QB a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It’s just not a safe way to compete and it’s not a smart way to preserve our quarterback healthy for the rest of the season. We’ve got to play better.”
Josh Allen was sluggish to rise after a sack in the first half. He said he was fine and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being hit so many times during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I encountered a few myself. I need to be more effective at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I was going backwards.”
Allen lost 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Anderson had 2.5 sacks to lead the Texans. His second one occurred when he almost sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and the defender rose and chased him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt early in the third.
Buffalo played for a second straight game absent receiver Keon Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was late to a team meeting before their last game. He was previously held out for the first series of a loss to the Patriots in the fifth week after additionally being late for a team session.
No change. We’re just approaching it one day at a time,” McDermott noted. “I thought he had a improved week, but we’re taking it step by step. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the guys that provide the best chance.”
Khalil Shakir led the Bills with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a score.
The quarterback was frustrated that the Bills couldn’t execute down the stretch.
In the end, we’ve got perform, and we didn’t do a good job of that tonight,” he concluded. “Whatever scenario and whatever circumstance, we need to find a way, and we came up short.”
