Very little went well for Josh Allen in a tough contest on Thursday evening versus the Texans.
And still he came close to willing the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an late pick in the final minute sealed their fate in a close loss.
Allen took back-to-back tackles for loss on the Bills’ final possession, leading to a long fourth down, but the Bills (with seven wins) picked up 44 yards on a quick throw from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a lateral to another teammate.
After a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, Calen Bullock picked off Allen’s pass at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds left.
“We had a chance to win it there at the end,” Allen stated. “Our team performed a solid job of staying in it and our defense bailed us out a couple of times. We’ve got find a way, and we didn’t.”
Proved tough for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a night he was brought down a career-high on eight occasions and pressured four additional instances. Allen threw for 253 yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after accounting for six TDs in a win over the Buccaneers last week.
“When they pressure our QB a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It is not a healthy way to play and it’s not a good way to keep our field general healthy for the remaining games. We’ve got to improve our performance.”
Josh Allen was slow to rise after a tackle in the first half. He said he was OK and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being hit so frequently on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I ran into a few personally. I’ve got to be better at disposing of the football. Too many times, I was going backwards.”
Allen lost 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Anderson had 2.5 sacks to lead the Texans. Another sack occurred when he nearly sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and Anderson rose and chased him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt in the third quarter.
The Bills competed for a second straight game without wideout Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was late to a squad gathering before their last game. He was earlier held out for the opening drive of a defeat to the Patriots in the fifth week after additionally being delayed for a team session.
No change. We’re just approaching it day by day,” McDermott said. “I thought he had a improved week, but we are taking it step by step. It was not that it was ignored, but we opted for the players that provide the optimal opportunity.”
Khalil Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight catches for 110 yards and Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.
The quarterback was disappointed that the team couldn’t execute in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we must perform, and we failed to succeed of that tonight,” he said. “Whatever situation and whatever condition, we need to discover a solution, and we came up short.”
