Very little went well for the Bills' quarterback in a frustrating game on Thursday evening versus the Texans.
And still he nearly managed to willing the Bills to a win before an late pick in the last moments ended their hopes in a close defeat.
The quarterback endured back-to-back tackles for loss on the Bills’ last drive, leading to a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (7-4) picked up 44 yards on a short pass from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a backward pass to another teammate.
Following a pre-snap infraction created a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, Calen Bullock picked off the quarterback's throw at the Houston 9 with under half a minute remaining.
We possessed a opportunity to win it there at the conclusion,” Allen said. “Our team performed a good job of staying in it and our defensive unit saved us a couple of times. We’ve got find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
Proved tough for Allen to get anything going on a evening he was brought down a career-high on eight occasions and hit four additional instances. The QB threw for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after accounting for six touchdowns in a victory over the Buccaneers the previous week.
“When they hit our quarterback a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It’s just not a safe way to compete and it’s not a smart way to preserve our quarterback healthy for the remaining games. We’ve got to improve our performance.”
Josh Allen was slow to get up after a sack in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was fine and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being contacted so many times on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I encountered a couple myself. I need to be better at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I was losing ground.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had 2.5 sacks to lead the Houston defense. Another sack occurred when he almost sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and the defender got up and pursued him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt early in the third.
The Bills competed for a second straight game absent wideout Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was earlier benched for the opening drive of a defeat to New England in Week 5 after also being delayed for a team session.
“Nothing new. We are taking it day by day,” McDermott said. “I felt he had a improved week, but we are handling it step by step. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the players that give us the best chance.”
Shakir led the Bills with eight receptions for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
The quarterback was frustrated that the Bills were unable to execute in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we must perform, and we didn’t succeed of that this evening,” he concluded. “Whatever scenario and whatever condition, we need to discover a solution, and we came up short.”
