Little went right for the Bills' quarterback in a frustrating game Thursday night versus the Texans.
And still he came close to driving the Bills to a win before an late pick in the last moments ended their hopes in a close defeat.
The quarterback took consecutive sacks on the Bills’ final possession, resulting in a long fourth down, but Buffalo (with seven wins) gained significant yardage on a quick throw from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.
Following a pre-snap infraction created a fourth down situation for the Bills, Calen Bullock picked off Allen’s pass at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds left.
“We had a chance to win it there at the end,” Allen stated. “Our team performed a solid job of hanging tough and our defensive unit saved us a few instances. We must find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was difficult for Allen to establish rhythm on a evening he was sacked a personal-worst eight times and hit four other times. The QB passed for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after producing six touchdowns in a victory over Tampa Bay last week.
Whenever they hit our QB a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott said. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It’s just not a safe way to play and it isn't a smart way to preserve our field general in good shape for the remaining games. We’ve got to improve our performance.”
Allen was slow to rise after a tackle 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 questioned about being contacted so many times during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I encountered a couple personally. I need to be better at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I found myself going backwards.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Anderson had 2.5 tackles for loss to lead the Houston defense. His second one occurred when he nearly sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and Anderson rose and pursued him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt in the third quarter.
The Bills competed for a second straight game without wideout Keon Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was previously held out for the first series of a defeat to the Patriots in Week 5 after also being delayed for a team session.
“Nothing new. We’re just taking it one day at a time,” McDermott said. “I thought he had a better week, but we are taking it one day at a time. It was not that it was ignored, but we went with the guys that give us the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir topped the Bills with eight receptions for 110 yards and Cook had 116 yards and a score.
Allen was frustrated that the Bills couldn’t execute down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we must execute, and we failed to do a good job of that this evening,” he said. “Whatever situation and any condition, we need to find a way, and we came up short.”
