Very little went right for Josh Allen in a tough game Thursday night against the Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to driving the Bills to a victory before an late pick in the last moments ended their hopes in a close defeat.
The quarterback endured back-to-back sacks on the team's last drive, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (7-4) gained 44 yards on a quick throw from Allen to a receiver, who flipped a backward pass to another teammate.
Following a false-start penalty led to a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, Calen Bullock intercepted the quarterback's throw at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds left.
“We had a opportunity to come out on top there at the end,” Josh Allen stated. “Our team performed a solid job of staying in it and our defense bailed us out a few instances. We’ve got find a way, and we didn’t.”
Proved difficult for Allen to get anything going on a evening he was brought down a personal-worst eight times and pressured four other times. Allen threw for 253 yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after producing six touchdowns in a victory over Tampa Bay last week.
“When they pressure our QB 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott said. “I disapprove of 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 remaining games. We’ve got to play better.”
Allen was sluggish to get up after a tackle in the first half. He indicated he was OK and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being contacted so many times on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I ran into a few personally. I’ve got to be better at disposing of the football. Too many times, I was going backwards.”
The Bills' QB surrendered 70 yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half sacks to lead the Texans. His second one came when he nearly took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and the defender got up and chased him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt in the third quarter.
The Bills competed for a second consecutive matchup absent receiver Keon Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their last game. He was earlier held out for the opening drive of a loss to the Patriots in the fifth week after additionally being late for a meeting.
“Nothing new. We are approaching it one day at a time,” McDermott noted. “I thought he had a improved week, but we are taking it one day at a time. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the players that give us the best chance.”
Khalil Shakir topped the Bills with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 yards and a score.
Allen was frustrated that the team 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. “No matter the situation and whatever circumstance, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”
