Very little went well for the Bills' quarterback in a disappointing game Thursday night versus the Houston Texans.
Yet he came close to willing the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an interception in the final minute ended their hopes in a 23-19 defeat.
Allen took consecutive tackles for loss on the Bills’ last drive, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (7-4) picked up significant yardage on a quick throw from Josh Allen to a receiver, who tossed a backward pass to another teammate.
After a false-start penalty led to a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, Calen Bullock intercepted Allen’s throw at the 9-yard line with under half a minute remaining.
“We had a chance to come out on top there at the end,” Josh Allen said. “We did a good job of staying in it and our defense saved us a couple of times. We’ve got find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
Proved tough for Allen to get anything going on a night he was sacked a personal-worst on eight occasions and pressured four additional instances. The QB passed for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after producing six TDs in a win over the Buccaneers the previous week.
Whenever they pressure our quarterback 12 times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach McDermott said. “I don’t like that stat at all. It’s just not a healthy way to compete and it isn't a good way to keep our quarterback healthy for the rest of the season. We need to play better.”
Josh Allen was sluggish to rise after a sack 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 questioned about being hit so frequently on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I ran into a couple myself. I need to be better at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I was going backwards.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half sacks to top the Texans. His second one came when he almost took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and Anderson got up and pursued him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt in the third quarter.
The Bills competed for a second consecutive matchup absent wideout Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch 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 Week 5 after additionally being delayed for a meeting.
No change. We’re just approaching it day by day,” McDermott said. “I thought he had a improved week, but we’re handling it step by step. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we opted for the players that give us the best chance.”
Khalil Shakir led the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 yards and Cook had 116 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 succeed of that this evening,” he said. “Whatever situation and any circumstance, we need to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
