Little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a tough contest on Thursday evening versus the Houston Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to driving the Bills to a victory before an late pick in the final minute ended their hopes in a close loss.
Allen endured consecutive sacks on the Bills’ last drive, leading to a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (7-4) picked up 44 yards on a quick throw from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a backward pass to another teammate.
After a false-start penalty led to a fourth down situation for the Bills, Calen Bullock picked off Allen’s pass at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds remaining.
“We had a chance to win it there at the conclusion,” Allen stated. “We did a good job of staying in it and our defense saved us a couple of times. We’ve got figure it out, and we didn’t.”
It was difficult for Allen to get anything going on a night he was sacked a personal-worst on eight occasions and pressured four additional instances. Allen passed for 253 yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after producing six touchdowns in a victory over the Buccaneers the previous week.
Whenever they pressure our QB a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach Sean McDermott commented. “I don’t like that stat at all. It is not a safe way to compete and it’s not a smart way to keep our quarterback healthy for the rest of the season. We’ve got to play better.”
Allen was sluggish to rise after a sack in the opening two quarters. He said he was fine and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being hit so frequently on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I encountered a couple myself. I’ve got to be better at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I found myself losing ground.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Anderson had two and a half tackles for loss to lead the Houston defense. His second one came when he nearly sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and the defender got up and chased him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt early in the third.
The Bills competed for a second straight game without wideout Keon Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was late to a team meeting before their last game. He was previously benched for the first series of a defeat to the Patriots in the fifth week after also being late for a meeting.
No change. 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 wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the guys that provide the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir led the Bills with eight receptions for 110 yards and Cook had 116 yards and a score.
Allen was disappointed that the team were unable to make plays down the stretch.
In the end, we must perform, and we didn’t succeed of that tonight,” he concluded. “Whatever situation and any condition, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
