Little clicked for Josh Allen in a tough game on Thursday evening against the Houston Texans.
Yet he came close to willing the Buffalo Bills to a win before an late pick in the last moments ended their hopes in a 23-19 loss.
The quarterback took consecutive tackles for loss on the Bills’ final possession, leading to a long fourth down, but the Bills (7-4) picked up 44 yards on a quick throw from Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a lateral to Khalil Shakir.
After a false-start penalty created a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, a Texans defender picked off Allen’s pass at the 9-yard line with under half a minute left.
We possessed a opportunity to win it there at the conclusion,” Allen said. “Our team performed a good job of staying in it and our defense bailed us out a couple of times. We’ve got find a way, and we didn’t.”
Proved tough for Allen to establish rhythm on a night he was brought down a career-high on eight occasions and hit four additional instances. The QB passed for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after accounting for six touchdowns in a win over the Buccaneers the previous week.
“When they hit our quarterback a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott said. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It is not a healthy way to play and it isn't a smart way to preserve our quarterback in good shape for the rest of the season. We’ve got to improve our performance.”
Allen was sluggish to rise after a sack in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was OK and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being hit so frequently on Thursday.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I ran into a couple myself. I need to be better at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I was going backwards.”
The Bills' QB surrendered 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 tackles for loss to lead the Texans. Another sack came when he almost took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and Anderson got up and chased him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt early in the third.
The Bills played for a second consecutive matchup without receiver Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was late to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was earlier held out for the first series of a loss to the Patriots in the fifth week after additionally being delayed for a meeting.
No change. We’re just approaching it one day at a time,” McDermott noted. “I thought he had a better week, but we’re handling it one day at a time. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the players that provide the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
The quarterback was disappointed that the team couldn’t make plays in crucial moments.
In the end, we must perform, and we failed to do a good job of that tonight,” he said. “Whatever situation and whatever condition, we need to discover a solution, and we came up short.”