Very little clicked for Josh Allen in a disappointing game on Thursday evening against the Houston Texans.
And still he came close to willing the Bills to a win before an interception in the final minute ended their hopes in a 23-19 defeat.
The quarterback endured back-to-back sacks on the Bills’ final possession, leading to a long fourth down, but the Bills (7-4) picked up 44 yards on a quick throw from Allen to a receiver, who flipped a lateral to Khalil Shakir.
After a false-start penalty created a fourth down situation for the Bills, a Texans defender picked off Allen’s throw at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds left.
“We had a chance to come out on top there at the end,” Josh Allen stated. “We did a good job of hanging tough and our defense saved us 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 evening he was sacked a personal-worst on eight occasions and hit four additional instances. The QB threw for 253 yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after producing six touchdowns in a victory over the Buccaneers the previous week.
Whenever they pressure our quarterback a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach McDermott said. “I don’t like that stat at all. It is not a healthy way to compete and it’s not a good way to keep our quarterback in good shape for the remaining games. We need 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 shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being hit so frequently during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I ran into a few personally. I need to be better at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I found myself losing ground.”
The Bills' QB surrendered 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 tackles for loss to lead the Texans. Another sack occurred when he nearly sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and the defender got up and chased him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt in the third quarter.
The Bills competed for a second straight game without receiver Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a team meeting before their last game. He was earlier benched for the opening drive of a defeat to New England in Week 5 after also being late for a team session.
“Nothing new. We’re just approaching it one day at a time,” McDermott said. “I thought he had a improved week, but we’re handling it step by step. It was not that it was ignored, but we opted for the guys that give us the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir topped the Bills with eight catches for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
Allen was disappointed that the Bills couldn’t make plays down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we must perform, and we failed to succeed of that this evening,” he said. “Whatever situation and any circumstance, we need to discover a solution, and we came up short.”
