Little clicked for Josh Allen in a disappointing contest Thursday night against the Texans.
Yet he came close to driving the Buffalo Bills to a win before an interception in the last moments ended their hopes in a close defeat.
Allen endured consecutive tackles for loss on the team's final possession, resulting in a long fourth down, but the Bills (7-4) picked up significant yardage on a short pass from Allen to a receiver, who tossed a lateral to Khalil Shakir.
Following a pre-snap infraction created a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, a Texans defender picked off 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 defensive unit bailed us out a couple of times. We must find a way, and we didn’t.”
Proved tough for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a evening he was brought down a career-high on eight occasions and hit four other times. Allen threw for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after accounting for six touchdowns in a victory over the Buccaneers the previous week.
“When they hit our quarterback 12 times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott said. “I don’t like that stat at all. It is not a healthy way to play and it isn't a smart way to preserve our field general in good shape for the rest of the season. We need to improve our performance.”
Allen was slow to rise after a tackle in the first half. He indicated he was OK and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being contacted so many times on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I encountered a few myself. I’ve got to be more effective at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I was losing ground.”
Allen lost 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had two and a half sacks to lead the Texans. His second one came when he nearly took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and the defender rose and pursued him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt early in the third.
The Bills played for a second consecutive matchup absent receiver Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a team meeting before their last game. He was earlier held out for the first series of a loss to New England in Week 5 after also being delayed for a team session.
“Nothing new. We are taking it one day at a time,” the coach noted. “I felt he had a better week, but we’re taking it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the players that provide the optimal opportunity.”
Khalil Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
The quarterback was disappointed that the Bills were unable to execute in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we’ve got execute, and we didn’t succeed of that this evening,” he said. “Whatever scenario and any circumstance, we need to discover a solution, and we came up short.”
