Very little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a disappointing game Thursday night versus the Houston Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to willing the Buffalo Bills to a win before an late pick in the last moments ended their hopes in a 23-19 loss.
Allen took consecutive tackles for loss on the Bills’ final possession, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (7-4) picked up significant yardage on a short pass from Josh Allen to a receiver, who flipped a lateral to another teammate.
After a false-start penalty led to a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, a Texans defender intercepted Allen’s pass at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds left.
“We had a chance to come out on top there at the end,” Josh Allen said. “We did a solid job of hanging tough and our defensive unit saved us a few instances. We must find a way, and we didn’t.”
Proved tough for the signal-caller to get anything going on a evening he was sacked a career-high eight times and hit four additional instances. Allen passed for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after producing six TDs in a win over Tampa Bay the previous week.
Whenever they pressure our QB a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach Sean McDermott commented. “I don’t like that stat at all. It is not a safe way to compete and it isn't a good way to preserve our quarterback in good shape for the remaining games. We’ve got to improve our performance.”
Allen was slow to get up after a sack in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was fine and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being hit so many times during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I ran into a couple myself. I’ve got to be better at disposing of the football. Too many times, I was losing ground.”
Allen lost 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 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 pursued him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt early in the third.
The Bills played for a second consecutive matchup absent receiver Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was late to a squad gathering before their previous contest. 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’re just approaching it one day at a time,” the coach noted. “I thought he had a improved week, but we are taking it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we went with the guys that provide the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.
Allen was frustrated that the team were unable to execute in crucial moments.
In the end, we must perform, and we failed to succeed of that this evening,” he said. “No matter the scenario and whatever condition, we’ve got to find a way, and we came up short.”
