Very little clicked for Josh Allen in a disappointing contest on Thursday evening against the Houston Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to driving the Bills to a victory before an interception in the last moments ended their hopes in a 23-19 defeat.
The quarterback took back-to-back tackles for loss on the Bills’ last drive, leading to a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (with seven wins) picked up significant yardage on a short pass from Josh Allen to a receiver, who flipped a lateral to another teammate.
After a false-start penalty created a fourth down situation for Buffalo, Calen Bullock picked off the quarterback's pass at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds remaining.
“We had a opportunity to win it there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen stated. “We did a solid job of staying in it and our defense bailed us out a couple of times. We must find a way, and we didn’t.”
It was difficult for the signal-caller to get anything going on a night he was brought down a personal-worst eight times and hit four other times. The QB threw for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and zero scores after accounting for six TDs in a win over Tampa Bay the previous week.
“When they hit our QB a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It is not a healthy way to play and it isn't a smart way to preserve our quarterback healthy for the remaining games. We’ve got to play better.”
Josh Allen was slow to rise after a tackle in the first half. He indicated he was fine and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was asked about being hit so many times during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I ran into a couple myself. I’ve got to be better at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I found myself going backwards.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half sacks to lead the Texans. His second one occurred when he nearly sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and the defender rose and chased him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt early in the third.
The Bills played for a second consecutive matchup absent wideout Keon Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was earlier held out for the opening drive of a loss to the Patriots in the fifth week after also being late for a team session.
“Nothing new. We’re just approaching it day by day,” McDermott said. “I felt he had a better week, but we’re handling it one day at a time. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the players that give us the best chance.”
Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
Allen was frustrated that the team were unable to make plays down the stretch.
In the end, we must perform, and we didn’t succeed of that tonight,” he concluded. “No matter the situation and any condition, we need to discover a solution, and we came up short.”
