Little went right for Josh Allen in a tough contest on Thursday evening against the Texans.
And still he came close to willing the Bills to a victory before an late pick in the last moments ended their hopes in a 23-19 loss.
The quarterback endured consecutive tackles for loss on the Bills’ final possession, leading to a long fourth down, but the Bills (with seven wins) gained significant yardage on a short pass from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a lateral to another teammate.
Following a false-start penalty led to a fourth down situation for Buffalo, a Texans defender picked off Allen’s pass at the Houston 9 with under half a minute left.
We possessed a opportunity to win it there at the conclusion,” Allen stated. “We did a good job of hanging tough and our defensive unit saved us a couple of times. We’ve got find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was difficult for Allen to establish rhythm on a evening he was sacked a career-high on eight occasions and hit four other times. The QB threw for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and zero scores after accounting for six TDs in a victory over the Buccaneers the previous week.
“When they hit our QB a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “I don’t like that stat at all. It’s just not a healthy way to compete and it’s not a good way to preserve our quarterback healthy for the remaining games. We’ve got to improve our performance.”
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 fell on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being contacted so many times during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I encountered a couple personally. I’ve got to be more effective at disposing of the football. Too many times, I found myself going backwards.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half sacks to lead the Houston defense. Another sack came when he almost sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and the defender rose and chased him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt in the third quarter.
The Bills played for a second straight game absent receiver Keon Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was late to a squad gathering before their last game. He was earlier benched for the first series of a loss to New England in Week 5 after also being delayed for a meeting.
No change. We’re just taking it one day at a time,” McDermott said. “I thought he had a improved week, but we’re handling it one day at a time. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the players that provide the optimal opportunity.”
Khalil Shakir led the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
Allen was disappointed that the team were unable to make plays in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we must execute, and we failed to do a good job of that tonight,” he concluded. “No matter the scenario and any condition, we’ve got to find a way, and we came up short.”
