Little went well for Josh Allen in a disappointing contest Thursday night against the Houston Texans.
And still he came close to willing the Bills to a victory before an late pick in the final minute ended their hopes in a 23-19 defeat.
The quarterback took back-to-back sacks on the team's last drive, leading to a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (with seven wins) picked up 44 yards on a quick throw from Allen to a receiver, who tossed a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.
Following a false-start penalty led to a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, Calen Bullock intercepted the quarterback's pass at the Houston 9 with under half a minute left.
“We had a opportunity to win it there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen stated. “Our team performed a solid job of hanging tough and our defense saved us a couple of times. We must figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was difficult for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a night he was brought down a career-high eight times and hit four additional instances. Allen passed for 253 yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after accounting for six TDs in a win over the Buccaneers the previous week.
“When they pressure our quarterback a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach McDermott commented. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It is not a healthy way to compete and it isn't a smart way to keep our field general in good shape for the remaining games. We’ve got to improve our performance.”
Josh Allen was sluggish to rise after a tackle in the first half. He indicated he was OK and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being hit so many times on Thursday.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I ran into a few personally. I’ve got to be better at disposing of the football. Too many times, I was going backwards.”
Allen lost 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had two and a half tackles for loss to lead the Texans. Another sack came when he nearly sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and the defender rose and pursued him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt in the third quarter.
The Bills competed for a second consecutive matchup without receiver Keon Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was late to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was previously benched for the first series of a loss to New England in the fifth week after additionally being late for a team session.
“Nothing new. We’re just approaching it one day at a time,” McDermott noted. “I felt he had a improved week, but we are handling it step by step. It was not that it was ignored, but we went with the guys that give us the optimal opportunity.”
Khalil Shakir led the Bills with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
The quarterback was disappointed that the team were unable to make plays down the stretch.
In the end, we’ve got perform, and we didn’t succeed of that tonight,” he said. “No matter the situation and whatever condition, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
