Very little went right for Josh Allen in a tough contest Thursday night against the Texans.
And still he came close to driving the Bills to a victory before an interception in the final minute ended their hopes in a close loss.
The quarterback took back-to-back tackles for loss on the Bills’ final possession, leading to a long fourth down, but Buffalo (7-4) gained significant yardage on a quick throw from Josh Allen to a receiver, who flipped a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.
After a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, Calen Bullock picked off the quarterback's throw at the 9-yard line with under half a minute left.
We possessed a opportunity to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen stated. “We did a good job of hanging tough 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 brought down a personal-worst on eight occasions and hit four additional instances. Allen passed for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after producing six TDs in a win over Tampa Bay the previous week.
Whenever they pressure our QB 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach McDermott commented. “I don’t like that stat at all. It is not a healthy way to play and it’s not a smart way to preserve our quarterback healthy 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 said he was OK and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being hit so many times on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I encountered 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 surrendered 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Anderson had two and a half sacks to top the Texans. Another sack came when he almost took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and the defender rose and chased him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt in the third quarter.
The Bills played for a second consecutive matchup absent receiver Keon Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was late to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was previously held out for the opening drive of a loss to New England in the fifth week after additionally being late for a team session.
“Nothing new. We’re just approaching it day by day,” McDermott noted. “I felt he had a improved week, but we’re handling it step by step. It was not that it was ignored, but we went with the guys that provide the optimal opportunity.”
Khalil Shakir topped the Bills with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.
The quarterback was disappointed that the team couldn’t make plays down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we’ve got execute, and we didn’t succeed of that this evening,” he said. “No matter the scenario and any circumstance, we need to find a way, and we came up short.”
