Little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a tough game on Thursday evening against the Houston Texans.
Yet he came close to driving the Bills to a victory before an interception in the final minute sealed their fate in a 23-19 loss.
The quarterback endured consecutive sacks on the Bills’ final possession, leading to a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (7-4) gained significant yardage on a short pass from Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a backward pass to another teammate.
After a false-start penalty led to a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, Calen Bullock intercepted Allen’s pass at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds remaining.
“We had a chance to win it there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen stated. “Our team performed a good job of staying in it and our defense bailed us out a few instances. We must find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was tough for Allen to establish rhythm on a night he was sacked a personal-worst eight times and hit four additional instances. The QB threw for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after accounting for six touchdowns in a victory over Tampa Bay the previous week.
“When they hit our quarterback 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach McDermott said. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It’s just not a safe way to play and it isn't a good way to preserve our quarterback healthy for the remaining games. We’ve got to play better.”
Allen was slow to get up after a sack in the first half. He said he was fine and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was asked about being hit so frequently during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I encountered a couple myself. I’ve got to be better at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I was losing ground.”
Allen lost 70 yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 tackles for loss to lead the Houston defense. Another sack occurred when he nearly took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and Anderson rose and chased him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt early in the third.
The Bills played for a second straight game absent wideout Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their last game. He was previously benched for the first series of a defeat to the Patriots in Week 5 after additionally being late for a meeting.
No change. We’re just taking it day by day,” McDermott noted. “I thought he had a improved week, but we are handling it step by step. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the guys that provide the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir topped the Bills with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.
The quarterback was frustrated that the team couldn’t make plays in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we’ve got perform, and we didn’t succeed of that this evening,” he concluded. “No matter the scenario and any circumstance, we need to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
