Little went well for the Bills' quarterback in a frustrating contest on Thursday evening versus the Texans.
And still he nearly managed to willing the Bills to a victory before an interception in the final minute sealed their fate in a 23-19 defeat.
The quarterback endured consecutive sacks on the team's final possession, leading to a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (7-4) gained significant yardage on a short pass from Josh Allen to a receiver, who tossed a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.
After a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth down situation for the Bills, Calen Bullock picked off Allen’s throw at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds remaining.
“We had a opportunity to come out on top there at the end,” Josh Allen said. “Our team performed a good job of hanging tough and our defensive unit saved us a few instances. We must find a way, and we didn’t.”
Proved difficult for Allen to establish rhythm on a night he was brought down a personal-worst eight times and pressured four other times. Allen passed for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after accounting for six TDs in a victory over Tampa Bay the previous week.
Whenever they hit our quarterback 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It is not a healthy way to play and it isn't a good way to preserve our field general in good shape for the rest of the season. We need to improve our performance.”
Josh Allen was slow to rise after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He said he was fine and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed 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 personally. I need to be better at disposing of the football. Too many times, I was going backwards.”
The Bills' QB surrendered 70 yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had two and a half sacks to top the Houston defense. His second one occurred when he nearly took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and Anderson rose and pursued him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to result in 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 team meeting before their previous contest. He was earlier benched for the opening drive of a loss to the Patriots in Week 5 after also being delayed for a team session.
“Nothing new. We are taking it day by day,” the coach said. “I felt he had a improved week, but we’re taking it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the guys that provide the optimal opportunity.”
Khalil Shakir led the Bills with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
Allen was frustrated that the team couldn’t execute down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we must execute, and we didn’t do a good job of that tonight,” he said. “No matter the situation and any condition, we need to find a way, and we didn’t.”
