Little went right for the Bills' quarterback in a disappointing game Thursday night versus the Texans.
And still he came close to willing the Bills to a victory before an interception in the final minute ended their hopes in a close defeat.
The quarterback took consecutive tackles for loss on the Bills’ final possession, resulting in a long fourth down, but Buffalo (7-4) gained significant yardage on a quick throw from Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.
After a false-start penalty led to a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, Calen Bullock intercepted Allen’s throw at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds left.
We possessed a opportunity to win it there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen stated. “We did a solid job of staying in it and our defense saved us a couple of times. We must find a way, and we didn’t.”
It was tough for Allen to get anything going on a evening he was sacked a personal-worst on eight occasions and hit four other times. Allen passed for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after producing six TDs in a victory over Tampa Bay last week.
“When they hit our quarterback 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach Sean McDermott commented. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It is not a safe way to compete and it isn't a good way to preserve our quarterback healthy for the remaining games. We’ve got to improve our performance.”
Josh Allen was sluggish to rise after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He said he was fine and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was asked about being contacted so frequently on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I encountered a couple personally. I need to be more effective at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I found myself going backwards.”
Allen lost 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half sacks to lead the Houston defense. Another sack came when he nearly took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and Anderson rose and chased him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt early in the third.
Buffalo played for a second straight game absent wideout Keon Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their last game. He was earlier held out for the first series of a loss to the Patriots in Week 5 after also being delayed for a meeting.
“Nothing new. We are taking it one day at a time,” the coach noted. “I felt he had a improved week, but we are handling it one day at a time. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the guys that give us the best chance.”
Shakir topped the Bills with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a score.
Allen was disappointed that the team couldn’t make plays down the stretch.
In the end, we must perform, and we failed to do a good job of that this evening,” he said. “Whatever scenario and any condition, we’ve got to find a way, and we came up short.”