Little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a frustrating contest on Thursday evening versus the Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to willing the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an interception in the final minute sealed their fate in a close loss.
The quarterback endured back-to-back sacks on the team's final possession, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (with seven wins) picked up significant yardage on a quick throw from Josh Allen to a receiver, who tossed a lateral to Khalil Shakir.
After a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth down situation for Buffalo, Calen Bullock intercepted the quarterback's throw at the Houston 9 with under half a minute remaining.
“We had a chance to win it there at the end,” Allen stated. “Our team performed a good job of staying in it and our defense bailed us out a couple of times. We’ve got figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was difficult for Allen to establish rhythm on a night he was sacked a personal-worst on eight occasions and pressured four additional instances. The QB passed for 253 yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after producing six touchdowns in a victory over Tampa Bay the previous week.
“When they hit our quarterback a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott said. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It’s just not a healthy way to play and it isn't a good way to keep our field general healthy for the remaining games. We need to improve our performance.”
Allen was sluggish to rise after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He said he was OK and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being contacted so many times during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I ran into a few myself. I’ve got to be more effective at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I found myself losing ground.”
Allen surrendered 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half sacks to lead the Texans. His second one occurred when he almost sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and the defender got up and chased him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt in the third quarter.
Buffalo played for a second consecutive matchup without receiver Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was late to a squad gathering before their last game. He was previously held out for the first series of a defeat to the Patriots in the fifth week after also being late for a meeting.
No change. We’re just taking it day by day,” the coach said. “I thought he had a better week, but we are taking it one day at a time. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the guys that provide the best chance.”
Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
The quarterback was frustrated that the Bills were unable to execute in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we’ve got perform, and we didn’t succeed of that this evening,” he said. “No matter the situation and any circumstance, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”
