Josh Allen Taken Down 8 Occasions as Final-Minute Pickoff Seals Fate of Buffalo in Defeat to Texans
Very little went right for Josh Allen in a disappointing contest Thursday night versus the Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to willing the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an interception in the last moments sealed their fate in a 23-19 defeat.
Allen endured consecutive sacks on the team's last drive, resulting in a long fourth down, but the Bills (with seven wins) picked up significant yardage on a short pass from Allen to a receiver, who tossed a backward pass to another teammate.
After a false-start penalty led to a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, Calen Bullock picked off Allen’s pass at the Houston 9 with under half a minute left.
We possessed a chance to win it there at the end,” Josh Allen stated. “Our team performed a good job of staying in it and our defense saved us a couple of times. We must figure it out, and we didn’t.”
Proved tough for Allen to get anything going on a evening he was brought down a personal-worst eight times and hit four additional instances. Allen threw for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after producing six TDs in a victory over the Buccaneers last week.
Whenever they hit our QB a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott said. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It’s just not a healthy way to compete and it isn't a smart way to keep our field general healthy for the rest of the season. We’ve got to improve our performance.”
Allen was slow to get up after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was fine and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being hit so many times during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I encountered a few personally. I’ve got to be more effective at disposing of the football. Too many times, I found myself going backwards.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half tackles for loss to top the Texans. His second one came when he almost took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and the defender got up and pursued him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt in the third quarter.
Buffalo played for a second straight game absent receiver Keon Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a team meeting before their last game. He was earlier benched for the first series of a loss to New England in Week 5 after also being late for a team session.
“Nothing new. We’re just approaching it one day at a time,” the coach said. “I felt he had a better week, but we’re taking it one day at a time. It was not that it was ignored, but we went with the players that provide the optimal opportunity.”
Khalil Shakir led the Bills with eight catches for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.
Allen was frustrated that the team were unable to execute in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we’ve got execute, and we didn’t succeed of that tonight,” he said. “No matter the scenario and any condition, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we came up short.”