Little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a disappointing game on Thursday evening against the Texans.
And still he came close to driving the Buffalo Bills to a win before an late pick in the last moments sealed their fate in a close loss.
The quarterback endured back-to-back tackles for loss on the team's final possession, leading to a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (7-4) gained 44 yards on a quick throw from Josh Allen to a receiver, who tossed a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.
Following a pre-snap infraction created a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, a Texans defender intercepted Allen’s throw at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds left.
We possessed a opportunity to come out on top there at the end,” Josh Allen stated. “Our team performed a solid job of hanging tough and our defense saved us a couple of times. We must find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was difficult for the signal-caller to get anything going on a evening he was sacked a personal-worst on eight occasions and pressured four additional instances. Allen threw for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after accounting for six touchdowns in a victory over the Buccaneers the previous week.
“When they pressure our quarterback 12 times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It is not a healthy way to compete and it’s not a smart way to keep our field general healthy for the remaining games. We need to improve our performance.”
Allen was sluggish to rise after a tackle in the first half. He indicated he was fine and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being contacted so many times on Thursday.
“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I encountered a few myself. I’ve got to be more effective at disposing of the football. Too many times, I was going backwards.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half sacks to top the Houston defense. His second one occurred when he nearly took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and Anderson got up and pursued him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt early in the third.
Buffalo played for a second straight game absent wideout Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was late to a team meeting before their last game. He was earlier benched for the first series of a loss to the Patriots in the fifth week after additionally being late for a team session.
“Nothing new. We’re just taking it one day at a time,” McDermott said. “I felt he had a improved week, but we are handling it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we opted for the players that provide the best chance.”
Shakir led the Bills with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.
The quarterback was disappointed that the Bills were unable to execute in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we’ve got perform, and we didn’t do a good job of that tonight,” he said. “No matter the situation and any condition, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”
