Little went well for the Bills' quarterback in a frustrating game Thursday night against the Houston Texans.
And still he nearly managed to willing the Bills to a win before an late pick in the final minute sealed their fate in a 23-19 defeat.
Allen took consecutive sacks on the Bills’ last drive, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (7-4) gained 44 yards on a quick throw from Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a backward pass to another teammate.
Following a false-start penalty created a fourth down situation for the Bills, Calen Bullock picked off the quarterback's throw at the Houston 9 with under half a minute left.
“We had a chance to win it there at the end,” Josh Allen stated. “We did a solid job of staying in it and our defensive unit bailed us out a few instances. We must figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”
Proved difficult for Allen to establish rhythm on a evening he was brought down a personal-worst eight times and pressured four additional instances. Allen threw for 253 yards with two interceptions and zero scores after producing six TDs in a victory over the Buccaneers last week.
Whenever they pressure our QB 12 times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach Sean McDermott commented. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It’s just not a healthy way to play and it’s not a smart way to preserve our field general healthy for the remaining games. We’ve got to play better.”
Allen was sluggish to get up after a sack in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was OK and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was asked about being hit so many times during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I ran into a few personally. I’ve got to be more effective at disposing of the football. Too many times, I was going backwards.”
Allen lost 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half tackles for loss to top the Texans. Another sack came when he almost sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and the defender rose and chased him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt early in the third.
The Bills played for a second consecutive matchup absent receiver Keon Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was late to a team meeting before their last game. He was previously benched for the first series of a defeat to New England in the fifth week after additionally being late for a team session.
“Nothing new. We are approaching it one day at a time,” McDermott said. “I felt he had a better week, but we are handling it step by step. It was not that it was ignored, but we went with the players that provide the best chance.”
Shakir led the Bills with eight catches for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a score.
Allen was frustrated that the team were unable to make plays in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we must perform, and we failed to do a good job of that this evening,” he said. “Whatever situation and whatever circumstance, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we came up short.”
