Little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a disappointing game on Thursday evening versus the Texans.
And still he nearly managed to driving the Buffalo Bills to a win before an late pick in the final minute sealed their fate in a 23-19 loss.
The quarterback took consecutive sacks on the team's last drive, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (7-4) gained significant yardage on a short pass from Josh Allen to a receiver, who flipped a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.
After a false-start penalty led to a fourth down situation for the Bills, Calen Bullock picked off the quarterback's throw at the Houston 9 with under half a minute left.
“We had a chance to win it there at the conclusion,” Allen stated. “Our team performed a solid job of staying in it and our defensive unit saved us a few instances. We must find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was tough for the signal-caller to get anything going on a night he was brought down a career-high on eight occasions and hit four additional instances. The QB passed for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after producing six touchdowns in a win over the Buccaneers the previous week.
“When they pressure our QB a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It is not a safe way to play and it’s not a smart way to keep our field general in good shape for the remaining games. We need to play better.”
Allen was slow to rise after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was OK and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being contacted so many times on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I encountered a few personally. I need to be better at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I was going backwards.”
The Bills' QB surrendered 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 tackles for loss to top the Houston defense. Another sack occurred when he almost sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and the defender rose and pursued him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt early in the third.
Buffalo played for a second straight game without receiver Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a team meeting before their last game. He was earlier benched for the first series of a loss to New England in the fifth week after also being late for a meeting.
“Nothing new. We are approaching it one day at a time,” McDermott noted. “I thought he had a better week, but we are taking it step by step. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the players that give us the best chance.”
Shakir led the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
Allen was disappointed that the team couldn’t execute in crucial moments.
In the end, we’ve got execute, and we failed to succeed of that tonight,” he said. “No matter the scenario and whatever circumstance, we’ve got to find a way, and we came up short.”
