Very little went well for the Bills' quarterback in a frustrating game Thursday night versus the Houston Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to willing the Bills to a victory before an interception in the final minute ended their hopes in a 23-19 loss.
Allen endured back-to-back sacks on the team's final possession, leading to a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (7-4) picked up 44 yards on a quick throw from Allen to a receiver, who flipped a backward pass to another teammate.
Following a false-start penalty created a fourth down situation for Buffalo, Calen Bullock intercepted the quarterback's pass at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds remaining.
We possessed a chance to come out on top there at the end,” Josh Allen said. “Our team performed a good job of hanging tough and our defensive unit saved us a couple of times. We’ve got find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
Proved difficult for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a night he was sacked a personal-worst on eight occasions and hit four other times. Allen passed for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after accounting for six touchdowns in a victory over the Buccaneers last week.
Whenever they hit our QB 12 times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach McDermott said. “I don’t like that stat at all. It is not a healthy way to compete and it isn't a good way to keep our quarterback in good shape for the rest of the season. We’ve got to improve our performance.”
Allen was slow to rise after a sack in the first half. He said he was fine and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was asked about being hit so frequently during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I encountered a couple myself. I need to be better at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I was losing ground.”
Allen lost 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had two and a half tackles for loss to top the Houston defense. His second one came when he nearly sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and the defender got up and chased him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt early in the third.
Buffalo competed for a second straight game without receiver Keon Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was late to a squad gathering before their last game. He was previously held out for the opening drive of a defeat to the Patriots in Week 5 after additionally being late for a meeting.
No change. We’re just taking it one day at a time,” the coach said. “I felt he had a improved week, but we’re handling it step by step. It was not that it was ignored, but we went with the players that provide the best chance.”
Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
Allen was disappointed that the Bills were unable to execute down the stretch.
In the end, we’ve got execute, and we failed to do a good job of that tonight,” he concluded. “No matter the situation and whatever condition, we need to find a way, and we didn’t.”
