Little went right for Josh Allen in a disappointing contest on Thursday evening versus the Houston Texans.
Yet he came close to willing the Buffalo Bills to a win before an interception in the last moments sealed their fate in a close defeat.
The quarterback endured back-to-back sacks on the team's last drive, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (7-4) picked up significant yardage on a quick throw from Josh Allen to a receiver, who tossed a lateral to Khalil Shakir.
Following a false-start penalty created a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, a Texans defender picked off Allen’s throw at the 9-yard line with under half a minute remaining.
“We had a chance to win it there at the conclusion,” Allen said. “We did a good job of hanging tough and our defensive unit bailed us out a couple of times. We’ve got find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was tough for the signal-caller to get anything going on a night he was brought down a career-high on eight occasions and hit four additional instances. Allen threw for 253 yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after producing six touchdowns in a victory over the Buccaneers the previous week.
“When they hit our QB 12 times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott commented. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It is not a safe way to play and it isn't a good way to keep our quarterback healthy for the rest of the season. We need to play better.”
Josh Allen was sluggish to get up after a sack in the first half. He indicated he was OK 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 unpleasant,” he said. “I encountered a couple personally. I need to be better at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I was going backwards.”
Allen lost 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Anderson had two and a half sacks to top the Texans. His second one came when he almost sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and Anderson rose and pursued him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt early in the third.
The Bills competed for a second consecutive matchup absent wideout Keon Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was late to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was previously held out for the first series of a loss to the Patriots in Week 5 after also being delayed for a meeting.
No change. We’re just taking it one day at a time,” the coach said. “I felt he had a better week, but we are taking it step by step. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the guys that provide the optimal opportunity.”
Khalil Shakir led the Bills with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
The quarterback was disappointed that the team couldn’t execute in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we’ve got perform, and we didn’t succeed of that tonight,” he concluded. “Whatever scenario and any circumstance, we need to find a way, and we didn’t.”
