Little went well for Josh Allen in a frustrating game Thursday night against the Houston Texans.
And still he came close to willing the Bills to a win before an late pick in the final minute sealed their fate in a 23-19 defeat.
The quarterback endured back-to-back tackles for loss on the Bills’ last drive, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (with seven wins) picked up significant yardage on a short pass from Josh Allen to a receiver, who tossed a lateral to another teammate.
After a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth down situation for the Bills, Calen Bullock picked off Allen’s pass at the Houston 9 with under half a minute left.
We possessed a chance to come out on top there at the end,” Allen said. “Our team performed a solid job of hanging tough and our defense saved us a couple of times. We’ve got figure it out, and we didn’t.”
Proved tough for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a night he was sacked a personal-worst eight times and pressured four additional instances. Allen passed for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after producing six TDs in a victory over Tampa Bay last week.
“When they pressure our quarterback a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It’s just not a healthy way to play and it’s not a smart way to preserve our quarterback 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 first half. He indicated he was OK and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being hit so frequently during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I ran into a few personally. I’ve got to be better at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I found myself losing ground.”
Allen surrendered 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half sacks to lead the Texans. Another sack occurred when he nearly 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 loss to force a punt early in the third.
The Bills competed for a second straight game absent receiver Keon Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was earlier benched for the opening drive of a loss to New England in Week 5 after additionally being delayed for a team session.
“Nothing new. We are approaching it day by day,” McDermott said. “I felt he had a better week, but we are handling it one day at a time. It was not that it was ignored, but we opted for the guys that give us the best chance.”
Shakir led the Bills with eight catches for 110 yards and Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.
The quarterback was frustrated that the team couldn’t make plays in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we must execute, and we didn’t succeed of that tonight,” he said. “No matter the situation and whatever condition, we need to find a way, and we didn’t.”
