Very little went right for the Bills' quarterback in a tough game Thursday night against the Houston Texans.
And still he came close to driving the Buffalo Bills to a win before an late pick in the final minute sealed their fate in a close defeat.
The quarterback endured back-to-back tackles for loss on the Bills’ final possession, leading to a long fourth down, but the Bills (7-4) gained significant yardage on a short pass from Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a lateral to another teammate.
After a pre-snap infraction created a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, a Texans defender picked off the quarterback's pass at the Houston 9 with under half a minute remaining.
We possessed a chance to come out on top there at the end,” Allen said. “We did a good job of hanging tough and our defense saved us a few instances. We’ve got find a way, and we didn’t.”
It was difficult for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a night he was sacked a personal-worst eight times and hit four additional instances. The QB threw for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after producing six touchdowns in a win over Tampa Bay last week.
“When they pressure our quarterback 12 times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach McDermott commented. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It’s just not a healthy 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.”
Allen was sluggish to get up after a sack in the first half. He said he was fine and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being hit so many times on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I ran into a couple personally. I need to be more effective at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I was losing ground.”
Allen surrendered 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half tackles for loss to top the Houston defense. His second one occurred when he almost sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and Anderson got up and pursued him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt early in the third.
Buffalo competed for a second consecutive matchup absent wideout Keon Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was tardy to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was earlier held out for the first series of a loss to the Patriots in Week 5 after additionally being delayed for a team session.
“Nothing new. We are approaching it day by day,” the coach noted. “I thought he had a better week, but we’re taking it step by step. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the guys that provide the best chance.”
Khalil Shakir led the Buffalo with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a score.
The quarterback was disappointed that the team were unable to execute down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we’ve got execute, and we failed to do a good job of that this evening,” he concluded. “No matter the scenario and whatever circumstance, we need to find a way, and we came up short.”
