Little clicked for Josh Allen in a disappointing game on Thursday evening against the Texans.
Yet he came close to driving the Bills to a win before an interception in the last moments sealed their fate in a close defeat.
Allen endured back-to-back tackles for loss on the Bills’ final possession, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (with seven wins) picked up significant yardage on a quick throw from Allen to a receiver, who tossed a lateral to Khalil Shakir.
Following a false-start penalty led to a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, Calen Bullock picked off Allen’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 stated. “We did a solid job of staying in it and our defensive unit bailed us out a couple of times. We’ve got find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was difficult for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a evening he was sacked a personal-worst on eight occasions and hit four other times. The QB passed for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and zero scores after producing six TDs in a win over the Buccaneers last week.
Whenever they pressure our QB a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach Sean McDermott commented. “I don’t like that stat at all. It is not a safe way to compete and it isn't a good way to preserve our quarterback in good shape for the remaining games. We’ve got to play better.”
Josh Allen was slow to rise after a sack in the first half. He indicated he was OK and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being hit so many times on Thursday.
“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I encountered a couple myself. I’ve got to be more effective at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I was going backwards.”
The Bills' QB surrendered 70 yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half tackles for loss to top the Houston defense. His second one came when he almost sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and the defender got up and chased him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt early in the third.
Buffalo competed for a second consecutive matchup absent receiver Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was late to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was previously held out for the opening drive of a loss to the Patriots in the fifth week after additionally being late for a meeting.
No change. We are taking it day by day,” McDermott noted. “I felt he had a better week, but we are handling it step by step. It was not that it was ignored, but we opted for the guys that provide the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir led the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
Allen was frustrated that the Bills couldn’t execute down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we’ve got perform, and we didn’t succeed of that tonight,” he said. “Whatever scenario and whatever condition, we need to discover a solution, and we came up short.”
