Very little went right for the Bills' quarterback in a tough contest Thursday night against the Houston Texans.
And still he came close to willing the Bills to a victory before an late pick in the last moments ended their hopes in a close loss.
Allen endured consecutive tackles for loss on the team's last drive, leading to a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (with seven wins) picked up 44 yards on a short pass from Josh Allen to a receiver, who tossed a lateral to Khalil Shakir.
After a pre-snap infraction created a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, a Texans defender intercepted the quarterback's throw at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds left.
“We had a chance to win it there at the end,” Josh Allen said. “Our team performed a good job of hanging tough and our defense saved us a couple of times. We’ve got find a way, and we didn’t.”
It was difficult for Allen to get anything going on a night he was sacked a career-high on eight occasions and pressured four additional instances. The QB passed for 253 yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after accounting for six touchdowns in a win over Tampa Bay the previous week.
Whenever they hit our quarterback 12 times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It’s just not a safe way to compete and it isn't a good way to preserve our quarterback in good shape for the remaining games. We’ve got to play better.”
Allen was slow to rise after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was OK and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being contacted so many times on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I ran into a couple myself. I need to be more effective at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I was going backwards.”
Allen surrendered 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Anderson had 2.5 tackles for loss to top the Texans. Another sack 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 force a punt early in the third.
The Bills competed for a second straight game without wideout Keon Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was late to a squad gathering before their last game. He was earlier held out for the opening drive of a loss to the Patriots in Week 5 after also being delayed for a team session.
“Nothing new. We are taking it day by day,” the coach noted. “I thought he had a improved week, but we are 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 Buffalo with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 yards and a score.
The quarterback was disappointed that the Bills couldn’t execute in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we’ve got perform, and we failed to succeed of that tonight,” he said. “No matter the situation and whatever condition, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”
