Little went well for the Bills' quarterback in a tough contest on Thursday evening versus the Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to willing the Buffalo Bills to a win before an interception in the final minute ended their hopes in a 23-19 loss.
Allen endured back-to-back sacks on the team's final possession, leading to a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (with seven wins) gained significant yardage on a quick throw from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a lateral to another teammate.
Following a false-start penalty created a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, Calen Bullock intercepted Allen’s pass at the 9-yard line with under half a minute left.
We possessed a chance to win it there at the end,” Allen stated. “We did a solid job of hanging tough and our defensive unit bailed us out a few instances. We must figure it out, and we didn’t.”
It was tough for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a night he was sacked a personal-worst eight times and hit four additional instances. Allen passed for 253 yards with two interceptions and zero scores after producing six TDs in a win over Tampa Bay the previous week.
Whenever they pressure our quarterback 12 times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It is not a safe way to play and it’s not a smart way to preserve our quarterback healthy for the rest of the season. We need to improve our performance.”
Allen was sluggish to get up after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He said he was OK and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being hit so frequently during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I encountered a few myself. I’ve got to be better at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I was losing ground.”
Allen surrendered 70 yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 sacks to lead the Texans. Another sack came when he almost took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and the defender got up and chased him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt in the third quarter.
The Bills competed for a second straight game absent receiver Keon Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was previously benched for the opening drive of a defeat to the Patriots in Week 5 after also being late for a meeting.
No change. We are approaching it one day at a time,” the coach said. “I felt he had a better week, but we are handling 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 receptions for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.
The quarterback was frustrated that the team couldn’t execute down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we must perform, and we failed to do a good job of that this evening,” he said. “Whatever situation and any circumstance, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
