Little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a disappointing contest Thursday night against the Houston Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to driving the Bills to a victory before an interception in the last moments ended their hopes in a 23-19 loss.
Allen took consecutive sacks on the team's final possession, leading to a long fourth down, but the Bills (7-4) picked up 44 yards on a quick throw from Josh Allen to a receiver, who flipped a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.
Following a pre-snap infraction created a fourth down situation for the Bills, a Texans defender intercepted the quarterback's pass at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds left.
“We had a chance to win it there at the end,” Allen said. “We did a good job of hanging tough and our defensive unit saved us a few instances. We must figure it out, and we didn’t.”
Proved difficult for Allen to get anything going on a evening he was brought down a career-high eight times and pressured four other times. The QB threw for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after producing six touchdowns in a victory over Tampa Bay the previous week.
“When they hit our quarterback a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach McDermott commented. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It is not a safe way to play and it’s not a smart way to preserve our field general in good shape for the remaining games. We’ve got to improve our performance.”
Josh Allen was sluggish to get up after a tackle in the first half. He said he was fine and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being contacted so many times on Thursday.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I encountered a few personally. I’ve got to be better at disposing of the football. Too many times, I was going backwards.”
Allen surrendered 70 yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 tackles for loss to lead the Houston defense. Another sack came when he almost took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and Anderson rose and chased him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt early in the third.
The Bills played for a second consecutive matchup absent wideout Keon Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their last game. He was previously benched for the first series of a loss to the Patriots in the fifth week after also being late for a meeting.
No change. We’re just approaching it day by day,” McDermott said. “I thought he had a improved week, but we are taking it step by step. It was not that it was ignored, but we opted for the players that provide the optimal opportunity.”
Khalil Shakir topped the Bills with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
The quarterback was disappointed that the team couldn’t make plays down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we’ve got perform, and we didn’t do a good job of that this evening,” he said. “Whatever situation and any condition, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”
