Very little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a frustrating contest Thursday night versus the Texans.
And still he came close to driving the Bills to a victory before an late pick in the final minute sealed their fate in a 23-19 loss.
The quarterback took back-to-back tackles for loss on the team's last drive, leading to a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (7-4) picked up 44 yards on a quick throw from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.
After a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, a Texans defender intercepted Allen’s pass at the 9-yard line with under half a minute remaining.
We possessed a chance to win it there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen stated. “We did a good job of staying in it and our defensive unit saved us a few instances. We must figure it out, and we didn’t.”
It was difficult for Allen to get anything going on a night he was sacked a career-high eight times and pressured four other times. Allen threw for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after accounting for six touchdowns in a victory over the Buccaneers the previous week.
Whenever they pressure our quarterback 12 times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott commented. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It is not a healthy way to play and it’s not a smart way to preserve our quarterback in good shape for the remaining games. We need to improve our performance.”
Josh Allen was sluggish to get up after a sack in the first half. He indicated he was fine and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was asked about being hit so many times on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I encountered a couple personally. I’ve got to be more effective at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I found myself going backwards.”
The Bills' QB surrendered 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had 2.5 sacks to lead the Texans. His second one occurred when he nearly took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and Anderson rose and chased him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt early in the third.
Buffalo played for a second straight game absent wideout 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.
No change. We are taking it one day at a time,” the coach noted. “I felt he had a better week, but we’re handling it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the guys that provide the best chance.”
Khalil Shakir topped the Bills with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.
The quarterback was disappointed that the team were unable to make plays down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we must execute, and we failed to do a good job of that this evening,” he said. “No matter the situation and whatever circumstance, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”
