Little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a disappointing game Thursday night versus the Texans.
And still he nearly managed to driving the Buffalo Bills to a win before an late pick in the last moments sealed their fate in a close defeat.
Allen endured back-to-back sacks on the team's final possession, leading to a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (with seven wins) picked up significant yardage on a short pass from Josh Allen to a receiver, who flipped a backward pass to another teammate.
After a false-start penalty led to a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, a Texans defender intercepted Allen’s throw at the 9-yard line with under half a minute left.
“We had a opportunity to win it there at the end,” Josh Allen said. “We did a good job of staying in it and our defensive unit saved us a couple of times. We’ve got figure it out, and we didn’t.”
Proved difficult for Allen to establish rhythm on a evening he was brought down a career-high eight times and hit four additional instances. The QB threw for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after accounting for six touchdowns in a win over the Buccaneers the previous week.
Whenever they hit our QB 12 times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott said. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It is not a safe way to compete and it’s not a smart way to preserve our quarterback in good shape for the rest of the season. We’ve got to improve our performance.”
Josh Allen was sluggish to get up after a tackle in the first half. He indicated he was OK and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being hit so frequently on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I encountered a few personally. I’ve got to be better at disposing of the football. Too many times, I was losing ground.”
Allen surrendered 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 sacks to top the Texans. Another sack came when he almost sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and the defender rose and pursued him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt in the third quarter.
The Bills played 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 previous contest. He was earlier benched for the first series of a loss to New England in Week 5 after also being late for a meeting.
“Nothing new. We’re just taking it day by day,” McDermott noted. “I thought he had a better week, but we are taking it step by step. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we went with the players that provide the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir led the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 yards and Cook had 116 yards and a score.
Allen was disappointed that the Bills couldn’t execute down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we must perform, and we failed to do a good job of that tonight,” he concluded. “No matter the scenario and any condition, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
