Very little clicked for Josh Allen in a frustrating contest on Thursday evening against the Texans.
And still he came close to willing the Bills to a victory before an late pick in the final minute sealed their fate in a close loss.
Allen took consecutive sacks on the Bills’ last drive, resulting in a long fourth down, but Buffalo (with seven wins) gained significant yardage on a quick throw from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a lateral to another teammate.
After a pre-snap infraction created a fourth down situation for the Bills, a Texans defender intercepted Allen’s throw at the Houston 9 with under half a minute left.
“We had a chance to come out on top there at the end,” Josh Allen said. “Our team performed a good job of hanging tough and our defense saved us a few instances. We’ve got figure it out, and we didn’t.”
Proved difficult for the signal-caller to get anything going on a night he was brought down a personal-worst on eight occasions and hit 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 hit our QB a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It is not a safe way to compete and it isn't a smart way to keep our quarterback in good shape for the remaining games. We need to play better.”
Josh Allen was slow to get up after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He said he was fine and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being hit so frequently during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I encountered a couple myself. I need to be more effective at disposing of the football. Too many times, I was losing ground.”
The Bills' QB surrendered 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half tackles for loss to top the Texans. His second one came when he nearly sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and Anderson got up and pursued 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 wideout Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was previously benched for the opening drive of a defeat to the Patriots in Week 5 after additionally being delayed for a team session.
“Nothing new. We’re just taking it one day at a time,” the coach said. “I felt he had a better week, but we are handling it step by step. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the guys that provide the best chance.”
Khalil Shakir topped the Bills with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
The quarterback was disappointed that the Bills were unable to make plays down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we’ve got perform, and we didn’t do a good job of that this evening,” he concluded. “Whatever situation and whatever condition, we need to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
