Little went well for Josh Allen in a disappointing game on Thursday evening versus the Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to willing the Bills to a win before an interception in the last moments ended their hopes in a close defeat.
The quarterback endured consecutive sacks on the Bills’ final possession, resulting in a long fourth down, but Buffalo (7-4) picked up significant yardage on a quick throw from Josh Allen to a receiver, who flipped a lateral to Khalil Shakir.
Following a false-start penalty led to a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, a Texans defender picked off Allen’s throw at the 9-yard line with under half a minute left.
“We had a chance to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen stated. “We did a good job of staying in it and our defensive unit saved us a few instances. We must find a way, and we didn’t.”
Proved tough for Allen to get anything going on a night he was brought down a career-high on eight occasions and hit four other times. Allen threw for 253 yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after producing six touchdowns in a victory over Tampa Bay the previous week.
“When they hit our quarterback 12 times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It is not a safe way to compete and it’s not a smart way to keep our quarterback in good shape for the remaining games. We need to play better.”
Allen was slow to get up after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was fine and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being hit so many times during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I encountered a few personally. I need to be more effective at disposing of the football. Too many times, I was losing ground.”
The Bills' QB surrendered 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Anderson had 2.5 sacks to lead the Houston defense. His second one came when he nearly took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and the defender rose and pursued him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt in the third quarter.
Buffalo competed for a second straight game absent wideout Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was late to a team meeting before their last game. He was previously benched for the first series of a loss to the Patriots in the fifth week after additionally being delayed for a team session.
“Nothing new. We’re just approaching it day by day,” the coach noted. “I thought he had a improved week, but we are taking it step by step. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we went with the guys that give us the optimal opportunity.”
Khalil Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
Allen was disappointed that the Bills were unable to make plays in crucial moments.
In the end, we must execute, and we didn’t do a good job of that tonight,” he said. “No matter the situation and whatever condition, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we came up short.”
