Little went well for the Bills' quarterback in a disappointing contest on Thursday evening versus the Houston Texans.
Yet he came close to willing the Bills to a win before an late pick in the final minute ended their hopes in a 23-19 defeat.
The quarterback took consecutive sacks on the team's last drive, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (with seven wins) picked up significant yardage on a quick throw from Josh Allen to a receiver, who tossed a lateral to another teammate.
Following a false-start penalty created a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, Calen Bullock intercepted Allen’s throw at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds remaining.
“We had a opportunity to come out on top there at the end,” Allen stated. “We did a solid job of hanging tough and our defensive unit saved us a few instances. We must find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
Proved difficult for the signal-caller to get anything going on a evening he was sacked a personal-worst eight times and pressured four other times. The QB passed for 253 yards with two interceptions and zero scores after accounting for six touchdowns in a win over Tampa Bay last week.
Whenever they hit our quarterback 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach McDermott commented. “I don’t like that stat at all. It is not a healthy way to play and it isn't a good way to keep our quarterback in good shape for the rest of the season. We’ve got to improve our performance.”
Allen was slow to rise after a tackle in the first half. He said he was fine and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being hit so many times during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I encountered a few myself. I need to be better at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I was losing ground.”
Allen surrendered 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half tackles for loss to top the Houston defense. His second one occurred when he nearly took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and the defender rose and pursued him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt early in the third.
Buffalo competed for a second straight game without receiver Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was late to a squad gathering before their last game. He was previously benched for the opening drive of a defeat to the Patriots in Week 5 after additionally being late for a team session.
No change. We’re just approaching it day by day,” the coach said. “I felt he had a improved week, but we’re taking it step by step. It was not that it was ignored, but we opted for the guys that give us the best chance.”
Shakir led the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
The quarterback was disappointed that the team couldn’t execute in crucial moments.
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 condition, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”
