Very little went right for Josh Allen in a tough game Thursday night against the Texans.
And still he nearly managed to willing the Bills to a victory before an late pick in the last moments ended their hopes in a close defeat.
Allen took consecutive tackles for loss on the Bills’ last drive, leading to a long fourth down, but the Bills (7-4) picked up significant yardage on a short pass from Josh Allen to a receiver, who flipped a lateral to another teammate.
After a false-start penalty created a fourth down situation for Buffalo, a Texans defender picked off the quarterback's pass at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds remaining.
We possessed a opportunity to win it there at the end,” Josh Allen said. “We did a good job of staying in it and our defensive unit bailed us out a few instances. We must figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”
Proved difficult for Allen to get anything going on a evening he was brought down a career-high on eight occasions and hit four other times. Allen threw for 253 yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after producing six touchdowns in a win over Tampa Bay last week.
“When they hit our QB 12 times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach Sean McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It is not a healthy way to play and it isn't a good way to preserve our quarterback healthy for the rest of the season. We’ve got to play better.”
Allen was slow to get up after a sack in the first half. He indicated he was fine and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was asked about being contacted so many times on Thursday.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I ran into a couple myself. I’ve got to be more effective at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I found myself losing ground.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half tackles for loss to top the Texans. His second one came when he nearly sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and the defender rose and pursued him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt in the third quarter.
Buffalo competed for a second consecutive matchup absent wideout Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was late to a squad gathering before their last game. He was earlier held out for the opening drive of a defeat to New England in the fifth week after additionally being delayed for a team session.
No change. We are taking it day by day,” McDermott said. “I thought he had a improved week, but we’re handling it one day at a time. It was not that it was ignored, but we opted for the guys that give us the best chance.”
Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
The quarterback was disappointed that the Bills couldn’t execute down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we’ve got execute, and we failed to do a good job of that tonight,” he said. “No matter the scenario and whatever circumstance, we need to find a way, and we didn’t.”
