Little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a disappointing game Thursday night against the Houston Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to willing the Bills to a victory before an interception in the final minute sealed their fate in a 23-19 loss.
Allen endured consecutive tackles for loss on the Bills’ last drive, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (with seven wins) picked up 44 yards on a quick throw from Allen to a receiver, who tossed a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.
After a false-start penalty 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 possessed a chance to win it there at the end,” Josh Allen stated. “We did a solid job of staying in it and our defense bailed us out a couple of times. We’ve got find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
Proved tough for the signal-caller to get anything going on a evening he was sacked a career-high eight times and hit four other times. Allen 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.
“When they hit our QB a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott said. “I disapprove of that statistic 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 need to improve our performance.”
Allen was slow to rise after a tackle in the first half. He indicated he was fine and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being hit so many times during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I ran into a couple personally. I need to be more effective at disposing of the football. Too many times, I found myself going backwards.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had two and a half sacks to lead the Texans. Another sack came when he nearly sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and the defender got up and pursued him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt in the third quarter.
Buffalo played for a second straight game absent wideout Keon Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was late to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was previously held out for the opening drive of a loss to New England in Week 5 after additionally being delayed for a team session.
No change. We are taking it day by day,” the coach said. “I felt he had a improved week, but we’re handling it one day at a time. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the players that give us the optimal opportunity.”
Khalil Shakir led the Bills with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.
Allen was disappointed that the Bills couldn’t execute down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we must execute, and we didn’t succeed of that this evening,” he said. “Whatever scenario and any circumstance, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
