Little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a frustrating game Thursday night against the Texans.
Yet he came close to willing the Bills to a win before an interception in the final minute sealed their fate in a close loss.
The quarterback endured consecutive sacks on the Bills’ final possession, resulting in a long fourth down, but Buffalo (7-4) picked up 44 yards on a short pass from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.
Following a false-start penalty led to a fourth down situation for Buffalo, a Texans defender picked off Allen’s throw at the 9-yard line with under half a minute left.
We possessed a chance to win it there at the end,” Josh Allen said. “We did a good job of staying in it and our defensive unit saved us a couple of times. We must figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”
Proved tough for Allen to get anything going on a evening he was sacked a career-high on eight occasions and pressured four additional instances. Allen passed for 253 yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after producing six TDs in a victory over Tampa Bay the previous week.
“When they pressure our QB 12 times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach McDermott said. “I don’t like that stat at all. It is not a safe way to play and it isn't a smart way to preserve our quarterback in good shape for the rest of the season. We need to play better.”
Allen was slow to get up after a sack in the first half. He said he was fine and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being hit so many times on Thursday.
“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I encountered a couple personally. I need to be better at disposing of the football. Too many times, I found myself losing ground.”
Allen surrendered 70 yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 sacks to lead the Houston defense. His second one occurred when he nearly took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and Anderson got up and pursued him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt early in the third.
The Bills played for a second straight game absent receiver Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was tardy to a team meeting before their last game. He was previously benched for the opening drive of a defeat to the Patriots in Week 5 after also being delayed for a meeting.
“Nothing new. We’re just approaching it day by day,” McDermott said. “I felt he had a improved week, but we are handling it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we opted for the guys that give us the best chance.”
Shakir led the Buffalo with eight catches for 110 yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
The quarterback was frustrated that the team couldn’t make plays in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we must perform, and we failed to do a good job of that this evening,” he concluded. “Whatever situation and whatever condition, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
