Little clicked for Josh Allen in a tough game on Thursday evening against the Houston Texans.
And still he came close to driving the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an late pick in the last moments sealed their fate in a 23-19 loss.
Allen endured consecutive tackles for loss on the team's last drive, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (with seven wins) picked up 44 yards on a quick throw from Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a lateral to another teammate.
Following a false-start penalty created a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, Calen Bullock picked off the quarterback's throw at the Houston 9 with under half a minute remaining.
We possessed a chance to come out on top there at the end,” Josh Allen stated. “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.”
It was difficult for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a night he was sacked a career-high on eight occasions and hit four additional instances. The QB threw for 253 yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after producing six touchdowns in a win over Tampa Bay the previous week.
Whenever they pressure our quarterback 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott said. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It is not a healthy way to compete and it isn't a good way to preserve our field general in good shape for the rest of the season. We’ve got to improve our performance.”
Josh Allen was slow to get up after a sack in the opening two quarters. He said he was OK and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was asked about being hit so many times on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I ran into a few myself. I’ve got to be better at disposing of the football. Too many times, I was losing ground.”
The Bills' QB surrendered 70 yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half tackles for loss to lead the Houston defense. His second one occurred when he nearly sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and Anderson got up and pursued him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt early in the third.
The Bills played for a second consecutive matchup without wideout Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was late to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was earlier held out for the opening drive of a defeat to the Patriots in the fifth week after additionally being late for a meeting.
“Nothing new. We are approaching it day by day,” the coach said. “I felt he had a better week, but we are handling it one day at a time. It was not that it was ignored, but we opted for the players that provide the best chance.”
Khalil Shakir led the Buffalo with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
Allen was frustrated that the Bills were unable to execute in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we’ve got execute, and we failed to succeed of that tonight,” he said. “No matter the situation and any circumstance, we need to find a way, and we came up short.”
