Little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a tough contest on Thursday evening versus the Houston Texans.
And still he nearly managed to willing the Bills to a win before an interception in the last moments sealed their fate in a close loss.
The quarterback endured consecutive tackles for loss on the team's last drive, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (with seven wins) picked up 44 yards on a short pass from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a backward pass to another teammate.
After a false-start penalty created a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, Calen Bullock intercepted the quarterback's pass at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds remaining.
We possessed a opportunity to win it there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen said. “We did a good job of staying in it and our defensive unit bailed us out a few instances. We’ve got find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was tough for Allen to establish rhythm on a night he was brought down a career-high eight times and pressured four other times. Allen passed for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after producing six touchdowns in a victory over the Buccaneers last week.
Whenever they hit our QB a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It is not a healthy way to play and it isn't a smart way to keep our field general healthy for the rest of the season. We need to play better.”
Allen was slow to get up after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was OK and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was asked about being contacted so frequently during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I ran into a few personally. I’ve got to be more effective at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I found myself losing ground.”
Allen surrendered 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. 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 scrimmage line, but he escaped and the defender got up and chased him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt early in the third.
Buffalo played for a second straight game without wideout Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a team meeting before their last game. He was earlier held out for the first series of a loss to New England in the fifth week after additionally being delayed for a meeting.
No change. We’re just approaching it one day at a time,” the coach noted. “I thought he had a better week, but we’re handling it one day at a time. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the players that give us the optimal opportunity.”
Khalil Shakir led the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
Allen was disappointed that the Bills were unable to execute down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we’ve got perform, and we failed to do a good job of that this evening,” he concluded. “Whatever situation and any circumstance, we need to discover a solution, and we came up short.”
