Little went right for Josh Allen in a tough contest on Thursday evening versus the Houston Texans.
And still he nearly managed to driving the Bills to a win before an late pick in the final minute ended their hopes in a 23-19 loss.
The quarterback took consecutive tackles for loss on the team's final possession, leading to a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (7-4) picked up 44 yards on a quick throw from Josh Allen to a receiver, who flipped a backward pass to another teammate.
After a false-start penalty led to a fourth down situation for Buffalo, Calen Bullock picked off Allen’s pass at the 9-yard line with under half a minute left.
“We had a opportunity to win it there at the conclusion,” Allen stated. “Our team performed a solid job of staying in it and our defensive unit saved us a couple of times. We’ve got find a way, and we didn’t.”
Proved tough for the signal-caller to get anything going on a night he was brought down a career-high eight times and hit four additional instances. The QB passed for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after accounting for six TDs in a victory over Tampa Bay last week.
Whenever they hit our quarterback a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott said. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It is not a healthy way to play and it’s not a good way to keep our quarterback in good shape for the remaining games. We’ve got to improve our performance.”
Josh Allen was sluggish to get up after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He said he was fine and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being hit so frequently during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I ran into a few myself. I’ve got to be more effective at disposing of the football. Too many times, I found myself losing ground.”
Allen surrendered 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Anderson had 2.5 tackles for loss to top the Texans. Another sack occurred when he nearly took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and the defender got up and pursued him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt in the third quarter.
The Bills competed for a second straight game without receiver Keon Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was late to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was earlier held out for the opening drive of a defeat to the Patriots in the fifth week after additionally being late for a team session.
“Nothing new. We are approaching it day by day,” the coach said. “I thought he had a improved week, but we’re taking it step by step. It was not that it was ignored, but we opted for the guys that give us the optimal opportunity.”
Khalil Shakir led the Bills with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
The quarterback was frustrated that the team couldn’t make plays down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we’ve got perform, and we failed to succeed of that tonight,” he concluded. “Whatever situation and any circumstance, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
