Little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a disappointing game on Thursday evening versus the Texans.
Yet he came close to driving the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an interception in the last moments sealed their fate in a close loss.
The quarterback endured back-to-back sacks on the team's final possession, leading to a long fourth down, but the Bills (with seven wins) gained significant yardage on a short pass from Josh Allen to a receiver, who flipped a lateral to Khalil Shakir.
Following a false-start penalty created a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, Calen Bullock picked off Allen’s throw at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds remaining.
“We had a chance to win it there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen stated. “We did a solid job of staying in it and our defense bailed us out a few instances. We’ve got find a way, and we didn’t.”
It was difficult for Allen to establish rhythm on a night he was sacked a personal-worst eight times and hit four additional instances. Allen threw for 253 yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after producing six touchdowns in a victory over Tampa Bay the previous week.
“When they hit our QB a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It’s just not a safe way to compete and it’s not a good way to preserve our field general healthy for the rest of the season. We need to play better.”
Josh Allen was slow to get up after a tackle in the first half. He indicated he was OK and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being contacted so many times during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I encountered a couple myself. I need to be better at disposing of the football. Too many times, I was losing ground.”
The Bills' QB surrendered 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half sacks to lead the Texans. His second one came when he almost took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and the defender rose and chased him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt early in the third.
Buffalo competed for a second consecutive matchup absent receiver Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was late to a squad gathering before their last game. He was previously benched for the first series of a loss to New England in Week 5 after additionally being late for a team session.
No change. We’re just approaching it day by day,” the coach noted. “I felt he had a improved week, but we’re handling it step by step. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we went with the guys that give us the optimal opportunity.”
Khalil Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight catches for 110 yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
Allen was frustrated that the team were unable to execute down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we must perform, and we didn’t do a good job of that tonight,” he concluded. “Whatever scenario and any condition, we need to discover a solution, and we came up short.”
