Little went right for Josh Allen in a disappointing contest on Thursday evening versus the Texans.
And still he came close to driving the Bills to a win before an late pick in the last moments sealed their fate in a 23-19 defeat.
Allen endured consecutive sacks on the Bills’ final possession, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (7-4) gained significant yardage on a short pass from Josh Allen to a receiver, who tossed a lateral to Khalil Shakir.
Following a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, Calen Bullock picked off the quarterback's pass at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds left.
“We had a chance to win it there at the end,” Josh Allen stated. “We did a solid job of staying in it and our defense bailed us out a couple of times. We must find a way, and we didn’t.”
Proved tough for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a evening he was brought down a career-high eight times and hit four additional instances. Allen passed for 253 yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after accounting for six TDs in a win over the Buccaneers last week.
Whenever they hit our QB a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott said. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It is not a healthy way to compete and it isn't a good way to preserve our quarterback healthy for the rest of the season. We need to improve our performance.”
Josh Allen was sluggish to rise after a sack in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was OK and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was asked about being contacted so frequently on Thursday.
“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I encountered a few personally. I need to be better at disposing of the football. Too many times, I was losing ground.”
Allen lost 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 sacks to lead the Houston defense. His second one came when he nearly sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and Anderson rose and pursued him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt early in the third.
Buffalo competed for a second consecutive matchup without receiver 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 first series of a defeat to New England in Week 5 after also being delayed for a meeting.
“Nothing new. We’re just approaching it day by day,” McDermott said. “I thought he had a improved week, but we’re taking it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the guys that give us the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir topped the Bills with eight receptions for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
The quarterback was disappointed that the team were unable to make plays down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we’ve got execute, and we failed to do a good job of that this evening,” he concluded. “Whatever scenario and any circumstance, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”