Very little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a frustrating contest Thursday night against the Houston Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to willing the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an late pick in the final minute sealed their fate in a close defeat.
The quarterback endured consecutive sacks on the Bills’ final possession, resulting in a long fourth down, but Buffalo (with seven wins) picked up 44 yards on a quick throw from Josh Allen to a receiver, who flipped a lateral to another teammate.
Following a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth down situation for Buffalo, Calen Bullock picked off the quarterback's throw at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds remaining.
We possessed a opportunity to win it there at the end,” Josh Allen stated. “We did a solid job of staying in it and our defense saved us a few instances. We must find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was difficult for the signal-caller to get anything going on a night he was sacked a personal-worst eight times and hit four additional instances. Allen passed for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after producing six TDs in a victory over Tampa Bay last week.
“When they hit our quarterback 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach McDermott said. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It is not a safe way to compete and it’s not a good way to preserve our quarterback 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 said he was fine and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being contacted so many times during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I ran into a few personally. I’ve got to be more effective at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I found myself losing ground.”
Allen surrendered 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had 2.5 tackles for loss to lead the Texans. His second one came when he almost sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and Anderson got up and pursued him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt early in the third.
The Bills competed for a second straight game without receiver Keon Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was previously benched for the first series of a loss to the Patriots in the fifth week after additionally being late for a meeting.
No change. We’re just taking it one day at a time,” McDermott said. “I thought he had a improved week, but we are handling it step by step. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the players that give us the best chance.”
Khalil Shakir topped the Bills with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 yards and a score.
The quarterback was frustrated that the team were unable to make plays in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we’ve got execute, and we failed to do a good job of that this evening,” he said. “Whatever situation and any circumstance, we need to discover a solution, and we came up short.”
