Very little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a disappointing contest Thursday night versus the Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to willing the Buffalo Bills to a win before an interception in the final minute ended their hopes in a 23-19 defeat.
The quarterback took back-to-back tackles for loss on the Bills’ last drive, leading to a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (with seven wins) picked up significant yardage on a quick throw from Josh Allen to a receiver, who flipped a backward pass to another teammate.
Following a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, Calen Bullock picked off the quarterback's throw at the Houston 9 with under half a minute remaining.
“We had a opportunity to win it there at the end,” Allen stated. “Our team performed a good job of staying in it and our defensive unit bailed us out a few instances. We’ve got figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”
Proved difficult for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a evening he was brought down a career-high eight times and hit four other times. The QB threw for 253 yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after producing six touchdowns in a win over the Buccaneers last week.
Whenever they hit our QB a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott commented. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It’s just not a healthy way to play and it isn't a smart way to keep our quarterback in good shape for the remaining games. We need to improve our performance.”
Allen was sluggish to get up after a sack in the opening two quarters. He said he was OK and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being contacted so many times during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I encountered a few myself. I’ve got to be better at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I was going backwards.”
The Bills' QB surrendered 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Anderson 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 scrimmage line, but he escaped and the defender rose and chased him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt early in the third.
Buffalo played for a second straight game without wideout Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was late to a squad gathering before their last game. He was previously benched for the opening drive of a defeat to New England in the fifth week after additionally being delayed for a meeting.
No change. We are approaching it one day at a time,” McDermott said. “I thought he had a better week, but we’re handling it step by step. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we opted for the guys that give us the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir topped the Bills with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 yards and a score.
The quarterback was frustrated that the Bills couldn’t execute in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we must execute, and we failed to succeed of that this evening,” he said. “No matter the situation and any condition, we need to discover a solution, and we came up short.”
