Little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a frustrating contest Thursday night versus the Texans.
And still he nearly managed to willing the Buffalo Bills to a win before an late pick in the last moments ended their hopes in a close loss.
Allen took back-to-back tackles for loss on the Bills’ last drive, leading to a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (7-4) picked up 44 yards on a short pass from Allen to a receiver, who tossed a backward pass to another teammate.
After a false-start penalty created a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, Calen Bullock intercepted the quarterback's pass at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds left.
“We had a opportunity to come out on top there at the end,” Allen said. “Our team performed a solid job of hanging tough and our defensive unit saved us a couple of times. We must figure it out, and we didn’t.”
It was difficult for Allen to establish rhythm on a evening he was brought down a career-high eight times and hit four other times. The QB passed for 253 yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after producing six TDs in a victory over the Buccaneers the previous week.
“When they hit our QB a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott said. “I don’t like that stat at all. It is not a safe way to compete and it isn't a good way to preserve our field general healthy for the remaining games. We’ve got to play better.”
Josh Allen was slow to get up after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He said he was OK and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was asked about being contacted so many times during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I ran into a couple personally. I’ve got to be better at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I was going backwards.”
Allen lost 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 sacks to lead the Texans. His second one occurred when he almost took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and the defender rose and chased him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt in the third quarter.
Buffalo played for a second straight game absent receiver Keon Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their last game. He was previously benched for the opening drive of a defeat to New England in the fifth week after additionally being delayed for a meeting.
No change. We are taking it day by day,” McDermott noted. “I thought he had a better week, but we’re taking it step by step. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the players that provide the best chance.”
Khalil Shakir topped the Bills with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
Allen was disappointed that the Bills couldn’t make plays in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we’ve got execute, and we failed to succeed of that this evening,” he concluded. “Whatever scenario and any condition, we need to find a way, and we came up short.”
