Very little went well for the Bills' quarterback in a disappointing game on Thursday evening against the Texans.
And still he nearly managed to willing the Buffalo Bills to a win before an interception in the final minute ended their hopes in a close loss.
The quarterback endured back-to-back sacks on the team's last drive, leading to a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (7-4) gained 44 yards on a quick throw from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a lateral to Khalil Shakir.
After a false-start penalty led to a fourth down situation for Buffalo, Calen Bullock intercepted Allen’s pass at the Houston 9 with under half a minute left.
We possessed a chance to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Allen said. “We did a solid job of hanging tough and our defensive unit saved us a few instances. We’ve got find a way, and we didn’t.”
It was tough for Allen to get anything going on a night he was sacked a personal-worst eight times and pressured four additional instances. Allen passed for 253 yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after accounting for six TDs in a win over the Buccaneers the previous week.
Whenever they pressure our quarterback a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It’s just not a safe way to compete and it isn't a good way to keep our field general in good shape for the remaining games. We need to improve our performance.”
Allen was sluggish to rise after a sack in the first half. He said he was fine and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being hit so frequently during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I ran into a couple myself. I’ve got to be more effective at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I was going backwards.”
The Bills' QB surrendered 70 yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had 2.5 tackles for loss to top the Houston defense. Another sack came when he nearly took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and the defender rose and chased him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt early in the third.
Buffalo competed for a second consecutive matchup without wideout Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was late to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was previously held out for the opening drive of a defeat to the Patriots in the fifth week after also being delayed for a team session.
“Nothing new. We are approaching it day by day,” the coach noted. “I felt he had a improved week, but we’re taking it step by step. It was not that it was ignored, but we went with the guys that provide the optimal opportunity.”
Khalil Shakir led the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
Allen was frustrated that the team couldn’t make plays down the stretch.
In the end, we’ve got execute, and we didn’t succeed of that tonight,” he concluded. “Whatever situation and any condition, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”
