Very little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a disappointing contest on Thursday evening against the Houston Texans.
And still he came close to driving the Bills to a win before an interception in the last moments sealed their fate in a 23-19 defeat.
Allen took back-to-back sacks on the Bills’ last drive, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (7-4) gained significant yardage on a short pass from Allen to a receiver, who flipped a lateral to another teammate.
Following a pre-snap infraction created a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, Calen Bullock intercepted Allen’s pass at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds remaining.
We possessed a opportunity to win it there at the end,” Allen stated. “We did a solid job of hanging tough and our defense bailed us out a couple of times. We must find a way, and we didn’t.”
It was tough for the signal-caller to get anything going on a night he was sacked a personal-worst on eight occasions and pressured four additional instances. The QB passed for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after accounting for six touchdowns in a win over Tampa Bay the previous week.
“When they pressure our quarterback 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott said. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It’s just not a safe way to play and it isn't a smart way to preserve our field general healthy for the rest of the season. We’ve got to play better.”
Josh Allen was sluggish to get up after a sack in the opening two quarters. He said he was OK and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being contacted so frequently during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I encountered a few personally. I’ve got to be more effective at disposing of the football. Too many times, I found myself going backwards.”
Allen lost 70 yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had two and a half sacks to top the Houston defense. Another sack occurred when he almost took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and Anderson rose and pursued him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt in the third quarter.
Buffalo played for a second straight game without wideout Keon Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their last game. He was earlier benched for the first series of a defeat to the Patriots in Week 5 after additionally being late for a team session.
“Nothing new. We are approaching it day by day,” the coach noted. “I felt he had a improved week, but we’re handling it step by step. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the players that provide the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight catches for 110 yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
Allen was frustrated that the Bills couldn’t make plays down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we’ve got perform, and we didn’t succeed of that this evening,” he said. “No matter the scenario and any circumstance, we need to find a way, and we didn’t.”
