Little went well for the Bills' quarterback in a tough contest on Thursday evening against the Houston Texans.
And still he nearly managed to driving the Bills to a win before an late pick in the final minute sealed their fate in a close loss.
The quarterback endured back-to-back tackles for loss on the team's final possession, resulting in a long fourth down, but the Bills (with seven wins) gained 44 yards on a short pass from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a backward pass to another teammate.
After a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, Calen Bullock picked off the quarterback's pass at the Houston 9 with under half a minute remaining.
“We had a opportunity to win it there at the end,” 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 we didn’t.”
It was tough for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a night he was brought down a personal-worst eight times and hit four other times. Allen threw for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after accounting for six touchdowns in a win over the Buccaneers the previous week.
Whenever they pressure our quarterback 12 times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach McDermott commented. “I don’t like that stat at all. It is not a safe way to compete and it isn't a smart way to keep our field general healthy for the remaining games. We’ve got to improve our performance.”
Allen was slow to get up after a sack in the first half. He said he was fine and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being contacted so frequently during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I ran into a couple personally. I need to be more effective at disposing of the football. Too many times, I found myself losing ground.”
The Bills' QB surrendered 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had two and a half tackles for loss to top the Texans. His second one came when he nearly sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and Anderson rose and chased him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt in the third quarter.
Buffalo competed for a second straight game absent receiver Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was tardy to a team meeting before their last game. He was previously benched for the first series of a loss to the Patriots in the fifth week after additionally being delayed for a meeting.
“Nothing new. We’re just approaching it day by day,” McDermott said. “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 players that give us the best chance.”
Shakir led the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.
Allen was frustrated that the Bills couldn’t execute down the stretch.
In the end, we’ve got perform, and we failed to succeed of that tonight,” he concluded. “Whatever scenario and any condition, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”
