Little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a disappointing contest on Thursday evening against the Texans.
And still he came close to driving the Buffalo Bills to a win before an late pick in the final minute ended their hopes in a 23-19 defeat.
Allen endured consecutive sacks on the team's final possession, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (with seven wins) picked up significant yardage on a short pass from Josh Allen to a receiver, who flipped a lateral to another teammate.
After a false-start penalty led to a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, Calen Bullock intercepted Allen’s throw at the 9-yard line with under half a minute left.
We possessed a chance to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen said. “Our team performed a good job of staying in it and our defense saved us a few instances. 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 other times. Allen passed for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and zero scores after producing six TDs in a win over the Buccaneers last week.
“When they hit our QB a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It is not a safe way to play and it’s not a good way to preserve our quarterback in good shape for the rest of the season. We need 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 landed on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being contacted so frequently on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I encountered a couple myself. I’ve got to be better at disposing of the football. Too many times, I was losing ground.”
Allen lost 70 yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had two and a half sacks to lead the Houston defense. Another sack came when he almost took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and Anderson rose and pursued him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt early in the third.
Buffalo played for a second straight game without receiver Keon Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a team meeting before their last game. He was earlier held out for the opening drive of a loss to New England in Week 5 after also being delayed for a team session.
“Nothing new. We’re just taking it one day at a time,” the coach noted. “I thought he had a better week, but we’re handling it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the players that give us the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir topped the Bills with eight receptions for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
The quarterback was frustrated that the Bills were unable to make plays in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we’ve got perform, and we failed to do a good job of that tonight,” he said. “Whatever situation and whatever circumstance, we’ve got to find a way, and we came up short.”
