Little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a tough game Thursday night against the Houston Texans.
And still he came close to driving the Bills to a victory before an late pick in the last moments sealed their fate in a 23-19 defeat.
The quarterback endured consecutive tackles for loss on the Bills’ last drive, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (with seven wins) picked up 44 yards on a short pass from Allen to a receiver, who flipped a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.
Following a false-start penalty created a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, a Texans defender intercepted Allen’s pass at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds remaining.
“We had a opportunity to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Allen said. “We did a solid job of hanging tough and our defense saved us a few instances. We must figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”
Proved tough for the signal-caller to get anything going on a night he was sacked a personal-worst eight times and pressured four other times. Allen passed for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after accounting for six TDs in a victory over Tampa Bay last week.
Whenever they hit our QB 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach McDermott said. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It’s just not a healthy way to compete and it’s not a smart way to preserve our field general in good shape for the rest of the season. We need to play better.”
Allen was slow to rise after a tackle in the first half. He indicated he was OK and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being contacted so many times on Thursday.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I encountered a few myself. I’ve got to be better at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I found myself losing ground.”
The Bills' QB surrendered 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 sacks to lead the Houston defense. His second one occurred when he nearly took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and the defender got up and pursued him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt early in the third.
Buffalo played for a second consecutive matchup without receiver Keon Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was late to a squad gathering before their last game. He was earlier held out for the first series of a defeat to New England in the fifth week after also being delayed for a meeting.
No change. We are approaching it day by day,” the coach said. “I felt he had a improved week, but we are handling it step by step. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the guys that provide the best chance.”
Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
The quarterback was disappointed that the team were unable to make plays down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we must execute, and we failed to succeed of that tonight,” he said. “Whatever situation and whatever condition, we need to find a way, and we didn’t.”
