Little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a tough contest Thursday night against the Houston Texans.
Yet he came close to driving the Buffalo Bills to a win before an late pick in the last moments ended their hopes in a 23-19 loss.
The quarterback endured consecutive sacks on the team's final possession, resulting in a long fourth down, but the Bills (7-4) gained 44 yards on a short pass from Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a lateral to Khalil Shakir.
After a false-start penalty created a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, Calen Bullock intercepted the quarterback's throw at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds remaining.
“We had a chance to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Allen said. “We did a good job of staying in it and our defense bailed us out a few instances. We must figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was difficult for Allen to establish rhythm on a evening he was sacked a career-high eight times and hit four other times. The QB threw for 253 yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after producing six touchdowns in a win over Tampa Bay the previous week.
Whenever they hit our quarterback a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach McDermott commented. “I don’t like that stat at all. It’s just not a safe way to compete and it’s not a smart way to keep our field general in good shape for the remaining games. We’ve got to improve our performance.”
Josh Allen was slow to get up after a sack in the opening two quarters. 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 contacted so frequently during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I encountered a few personally. I need to be more effective at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I was losing ground.”
Allen surrendered 70 yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half tackles for loss to lead the Texans. His second one came when he nearly took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and Anderson got up and pursued him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt in the third quarter.
Buffalo played for a second straight game without receiver Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was late to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was previously held out for the first series of a defeat to New England in Week 5 after also being late for a team session.
No change. We are taking it day by day,” the coach said. “I thought he had a better week, but we’re taking it one day at a time. It was not that it was ignored, but we opted for the guys that provide the best chance.”
Shakir led the Bills with eight receptions for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.
The quarterback was disappointed that the Bills were unable to make plays down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we’ve got perform, and we failed to succeed of that this evening,” he concluded. “No matter the situation and any circumstance, we need to find a way, and we didn’t.”
