Very little went right for Josh Allen in a frustrating game on Thursday evening 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 loss.
The quarterback took consecutive sacks on the Bills’ final possession, leading to a long fourth down, but Buffalo (7-4) picked up significant yardage on a short pass from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a backward pass to another teammate.
Following a false-start penalty led to a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, a Texans defender picked off Allen’s pass at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds left.
“We had a opportunity to win it there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen said. “We did a good job of staying in it and our defense saved us a couple of times. We must figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was difficult for the signal-caller to get anything going on a evening he was sacked a personal-worst on eight occasions and hit four other times. The QB passed for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after producing six TDs in a win over the Buccaneers last week.
“When they hit our QB a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “I don’t like that stat at all. It is not a healthy way to compete and it isn't a good way to keep our quarterback healthy for the rest of the season. We need to play better.”
Josh Allen was sluggish to get up after a tackle in the first half. He indicated he was fine and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was asked about being hit so many times during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I encountered a couple myself. I need to be more effective at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I found myself going backwards.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had 2.5 tackles for loss to top the Houston defense. Another sack occurred when he nearly took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and the defender got up and pursued him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt early in the third.
Buffalo competed for a second consecutive matchup without wideout Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was late to a squad gathering before their last game. He was previously held out for the first series of a defeat to New England in the fifth week after also being delayed for a meeting.
“Nothing new. We are approaching it day by day,” McDermott noted. “I thought he had a improved week, but we’re handling it step by step. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we opted for the players that give us the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir led the Bills with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a score.
Allen was frustrated that the Bills couldn’t execute down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we’ve got perform, and we failed to do a good job of that tonight,” he said. “Whatever situation and whatever circumstance, we need to discover a solution, and we came up short.”
