Little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a disappointing contest Thursday night versus the Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to driving the Bills to a victory before an late pick in the final minute sealed their fate in a close defeat.
The quarterback endured consecutive tackles for loss on the Bills’ final possession, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (with seven wins) picked up significant yardage on a short pass from Josh Allen to a receiver, who flipped a lateral to Khalil Shakir.
After a false-start penalty led to a fourth down situation for Buffalo, Calen Bullock intercepted the quarterback's pass at the Houston 9 with under half a minute remaining.
We possessed a opportunity 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’ve got find a way, and we didn’t.”
It was tough for Allen to establish rhythm on a night he was sacked a career-high on eight occasions and pressured four other times. Allen passed for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and zero scores after producing six TDs in a win over Tampa Bay the previous week.
“When they pressure our quarterback a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott said. “I don’t like that stat at all. It is not a healthy way to play and it’s not a smart way to preserve our quarterback in good shape for the remaining games. We’ve got to improve our performance.”
Josh Allen was sluggish to rise after a tackle in the first half. He said he was fine and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was asked about being contacted so many times during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I ran into a couple personally. I need to be better at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I found myself losing ground.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had 2.5 tackles for loss to lead the Houston defense. Another sack occurred when he almost sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and Anderson 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 competed for a second consecutive matchup absent receiver Keon Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was previously benched for the first series of a loss to the Patriots in Week 5 after additionally being delayed for a team session.
“Nothing new. We’re just taking it day by day,” McDermott noted. “I felt he had a better week, but we are taking it one day at a time. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the players that provide the optimal opportunity.”
Khalil Shakir topped the Bills with eight receptions for 110 yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
Allen was disappointed that the Bills couldn’t execute in crucial moments.
In the end, we must perform, and we failed to do a good job of that this evening,” he said. “No matter the scenario and any circumstance, we need to find a way, and we didn’t.”
