Very little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a disappointing game on Thursday evening versus the Texans.
Yet he came close to willing the Buffalo Bills to a win before an interception in the last moments sealed their fate in a 23-19 defeat.
Allen endured back-to-back tackles for loss on the team's last drive, resulting in a long fourth down, but Buffalo (7-4) picked up 44 yards on a short pass from Allen to a receiver, who flipped a lateral to Khalil Shakir.
After a false-start penalty created a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, a Texans defender picked off Allen’s pass at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds left.
We possessed a chance to win it there at the end,” Allen said. “Our team performed a solid job of hanging tough and our defense saved us a couple of times. We must find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was tough for Allen to get anything going on a evening he was sacked a personal-worst eight times and pressured four additional instances. Allen threw for 253 yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after producing six TDs in a victory over the Buccaneers the previous week.
Whenever they pressure our QB a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott said. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It is not a safe way to play and it isn't a smart way to preserve our quarterback in good shape for the rest of the season. We’ve got to improve our performance.”
Josh Allen was sluggish to rise after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He said he was fine and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was asked about being contacted so many times during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I encountered a few myself. I need to be better at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I found myself going backwards.”
Allen surrendered 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Anderson had two and a half sacks to lead the Texans. His second one came when he nearly took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and the defender rose and pursued him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt early in the third.
Buffalo played for a second straight game without wideout Keon Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was previously held out for the first series of a defeat to the Patriots in the fifth week after also being delayed for a meeting.
No change. We are approaching it day by day,” the coach noted. “I felt he had a better week, but we are 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 led the Buffalo with eight catches for 110 yards and Cook had 116 yards and a score.
Allen was frustrated that the Bills were unable to make plays in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we must execute, and we failed to do a good job of that this evening,” he said. “Whatever situation and any condition, we need to find a way, and we came up short.”
