Very little went right for Josh Allen in a frustrating game Thursday night against the Texans.
And still 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 took consecutive tackles for loss on the Bills’ last drive, resulting in a long fourth down, but Buffalo (with seven wins) gained 44 yards on a quick throw from Josh Allen to a receiver, who flipped a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.
After a pre-snap infraction created a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, a Texans defender picked off the quarterback's pass at the Houston 9 with under half a minute remaining.
We possessed a opportunity to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Allen said. “We did a solid job of staying in it and our defense saved us a couple of times. We must figure it out, and we didn’t.”
It was difficult for Allen to get anything going on a night he was brought down a career-high eight times and pressured four additional instances. The QB passed for 253 yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after accounting for six TDs in a win over the Buccaneers the previous week.
“When they pressure our QB 12 times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It’s just not a safe way to compete and it’s not a smart way to preserve our field general healthy for the rest of the season. We need to play better.”
Josh Allen was slow to rise after a tackle in the first half. He said he was OK 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 said. “I encountered a few personally. I need to be better at disposing of the football. Too many times, I was going backwards.”
The Bills' QB surrendered 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had 2.5 tackles for loss to lead the Texans. His second one came when he nearly took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and Anderson rose and chased 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 wideout Keon Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was previously benched for the first series of a loss to the Patriots in the fifth week after also being delayed for a meeting.
“Nothing new. We are taking it day by day,” the coach said. “I felt he had a improved week, but we’re taking it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we opted for the guys that give us the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir led the Buffalo with eight catches for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a score.
The quarterback was frustrated that the Bills couldn’t make plays in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we must execute, and we failed to succeed of that tonight,” he said. “No matter the scenario and whatever condition, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we came up short.”
