Very little went well for Josh Allen in a disappointing game Thursday night versus the Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to driving the Buffalo Bills to a win before an late pick in the last moments ended their hopes in a close defeat.
Allen took back-to-back sacks on the Bills’ last drive, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (with seven wins) gained 44 yards on a short pass from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a lateral to Khalil Shakir.
Following a false-start penalty led to a fourth down situation 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 end,” Josh Allen said. “Our team performed a good job of hanging tough and our defense saved us a few instances. We’ve got find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was difficult for Allen to establish rhythm on a night he was sacked a career-high eight times and hit four other times. The QB passed for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after producing six touchdowns in a win over Tampa Bay the previous week.
“When they hit our QB a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott said. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It’s just not a healthy way to compete and it isn't a good way to preserve our field general in good shape for the rest of the season. We’ve got to play better.”
Josh Allen was sluggish to rise after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was OK and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being hit so frequently on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I ran into a couple myself. I need to be more effective at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I was losing ground.”
Allen surrendered 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had two and a half sacks to lead the Texans. His second one came when he nearly sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and Anderson rose and chased him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt early in the third.
Buffalo played for a second straight game absent receiver Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was previously held out for the opening drive of a defeat to New England in the fifth week after additionally being delayed for a meeting.
No change. We are taking it one day at a time,” the coach noted. “I felt he had a better week, but we are taking it step by step. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we went with the players that provide the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.
Allen was disappointed that the Bills couldn’t execute in crucial moments.
In the end, we’ve got execute, and we didn’t do a good job of that tonight,” he concluded. “Whatever situation and whatever condition, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
