Little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a frustrating game on Thursday evening versus the Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to willing the Bills to a victory before an late pick in the last moments sealed their fate in a close loss.
The quarterback endured consecutive tackles for loss on the team's final possession, leading to a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (with seven wins) gained significant yardage on a short pass from Josh Allen to a receiver, who tossed a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.
After a false-start penalty created a fourth down situation for Buffalo, Calen Bullock picked off the quarterback's throw at the 9-yard line with under half a minute left.
We possessed a chance to win it there at the conclusion,” Allen stated. “We did a good job of hanging tough and our defense 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 evening he was sacked a personal-worst eight times and pressured four additional instances. The QB threw for 253 yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after accounting for six touchdowns in a win over Tampa Bay last week.
“When they hit our quarterback a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach Sean McDermott commented. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It’s just not a safe way to compete and it’s not a good way to preserve our field general in good shape for the remaining games. We need to improve our performance.”
Josh Allen was sluggish to get up after a sack in the first half. He said he was fine and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being hit so many times on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I encountered a few personally. I need to be better at disposing of the football. Too many times, I found myself going backwards.”
The Bills' QB surrendered 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half tackles for loss to lead the Texans. Another sack came when he nearly took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and Anderson rose and pursued him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt early in the third.
Buffalo played for a second consecutive matchup absent receiver Keon Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was earlier held out for the first series of a defeat to the Patriots in Week 5 after also being delayed for a meeting.
“Nothing new. We’re just approaching it one day at a time,” McDermott said. “I felt he had a improved week, but we’re taking it step by step. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the guys that give us the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir led the Buffalo with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 yards and a score.
Allen was frustrated that the Bills couldn’t make plays down the stretch.
In the end, we’ve got perform, and we didn’t do a good job of that this evening,” he concluded. “No matter the scenario and whatever circumstance, we need to find a way, and we came up short.”
