Little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a frustrating contest Thursday night against the Texans.
And still he came close to driving the Buffalo Bills to a win before an late pick in the last moments sealed their fate in a 23-19 loss.
The quarterback endured consecutive tackles for loss on the team's final possession, leading to a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (7-4) picked up significant yardage on a quick throw from Josh Allen to a receiver, who flipped a lateral to another teammate.
After a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, a Texans defender picked off the quarterback's pass at the Houston 9 with under half a minute left.
We possessed a chance to win it there at the end,” Josh Allen stated. “Our team performed a good job of staying in it and our defensive unit saved us a few instances. We’ve got figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was tough for Allen to establish rhythm on a evening he was sacked a personal-worst on eight occasions and pressured four additional instances. The QB threw for 253 yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after accounting for six TDs in a win over Tampa Bay last week.
“When they pressure our QB a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It’s just not a healthy way to play and it isn't a smart way to preserve our quarterback in good shape for the remaining games. We’ve got to play better.”
Josh Allen was slow to get up after a tackle in the first half. He indicated he was OK and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being contacted so many times on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I encountered a couple personally. I need to be more effective at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I found myself going backwards.”
Allen lost 70 yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had two and a half sacks to top the Texans. Another sack came when he nearly sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and Anderson got up and chased him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt in the third quarter.
The Bills competed for a second consecutive matchup absent receiver Keon Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was late to a team meeting before their last game. He was previously benched for the first series of a loss to the Patriots in the fifth week after also being late for a team session.
No change. We’re just approaching it day by day,” McDermott said. “I felt he had a improved week, but we’re handling it one day at a time. It was not that it was ignored, but we went with the guys that give us the best chance.”
Shakir led the Bills with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.
The quarterback was frustrated that the team couldn’t execute down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we’ve got perform, and we didn’t do a good job of that tonight,” he said. “Whatever situation and whatever circumstance, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
