Little clicked for Josh Allen in a disappointing game Thursday night against the Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to willing the Bills to a victory before an interception in the final minute ended their hopes in a close loss.
The quarterback endured consecutive tackles for loss on the Bills’ final possession, leading to a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (7-4) gained 44 yards on a short pass from Josh Allen to a receiver, who tossed a lateral to another teammate.
Following a false-start penalty led to a fourth down situation for the Bills, Calen Bullock intercepted Allen’s throw at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds left.
“We had a chance to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Allen stated. “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 the signal-caller to get anything going on a evening he was brought down a personal-worst eight times and pressured four other times. Allen threw for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after producing six TDs in a victory over Tampa Bay last week.
“When they pressure our QB 12 times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “I don’t like that stat at all. It’s just not a safe way to play and it isn't a smart way to preserve our field general healthy for the remaining games. We need to play better.”
Allen was slow 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 in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being contacted so many times on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I encountered a few personally. I need to be better at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I found myself going backwards.”
Allen lost 70 yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had 2.5 tackles for loss to lead the Houston defense. His second one came when he almost took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and the defender rose and pursued him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt early in the third.
Buffalo played for a second consecutive matchup without wideout Keon Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was previously benched for the opening drive of a loss to New England in Week 5 after additionally being delayed for a team session.
“Nothing new. We’re just taking it day by day,” the coach said. “I felt he had a better week, but we’re handling it step by step. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we went with the players that provide the best chance.”
Khalil Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
Allen was disappointed that the Bills were unable to execute down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we’ve got perform, and we failed to do a good job of that this evening,” he said. “No matter the situation and any circumstance, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we came up short.”
