Very little clicked for Josh Allen in a disappointing contest Thursday night versus the Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to driving the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an late pick in the last moments ended their hopes in a 23-19 loss.
Allen took consecutive tackles for loss on the team's last drive, leading to a long fourth down, but Buffalo (with seven wins) picked up significant yardage on a quick throw from Allen to a receiver, who tossed a lateral to another teammate.
Following a pre-snap infraction created a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, Calen Bullock picked off the quarterback's throw at the 9-yard line with under half a minute left.
We possessed a chance to win it there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen said. “We did a solid job of hanging tough and our defensive unit saved us a couple of times. We’ve got find a way, and we didn’t.”
It was difficult for the signal-caller to get anything going on a night he was brought down a personal-worst on eight occasions and pressured four additional instances. Allen passed for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after accounting for six TDs in a win over the Buccaneers last week.
“When they pressure our quarterback 12 times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach Sean McDermott commented. “I don’t like that stat at all. It’s just not a safe way to play and it isn't a good way to preserve our field general in good shape for the rest of the season. We need to improve our performance.”
Josh Allen was slow to rise after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He said he was fine and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being hit so many times during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I encountered a couple myself. I’ve got to be more effective at disposing of the football. Too many times, I found myself losing ground.”
The Bills' QB surrendered 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 sacks to top the Texans. His second one occurred when he nearly 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 competed for a second consecutive matchup without receiver Keon Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was late to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was earlier benched for the first series of a defeat to the Patriots in Week 5 after additionally being late for a team session.
No change. We are approaching it one day at a time,” McDermott said. “I felt he had a better week, but we’re handling it step by step. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we opted for the guys that give us the best chance.”
Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
Allen was disappointed that the team were unable to make plays in crucial moments.
In the end, we must execute, and we failed to do a good job of that tonight,” he said. “No matter the scenario and any circumstance, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we came up short.”
