Very little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a tough game Thursday night versus the Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to driving the Bills to a victory before an interception in the final minute ended their hopes in a 23-19 defeat.
Allen endured consecutive tackles for loss on the Bills’ last drive, resulting in a long fourth down, but the Bills (with seven wins) picked up 44 yards on a short pass from Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a lateral to another teammate.
After a false-start penalty created a fourth down situation for the Bills, a Texans defender picked off Allen’s throw at the Houston 9 with under half a minute left.
We possessed a chance to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Allen said. “Our team performed a good job of hanging tough and our defense saved us a couple of times. We’ve got figure it out, and we didn’t.”
Proved difficult for the signal-caller to get anything going on a night he was sacked a career-high on eight occasions and hit four additional instances. The QB passed for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after producing six TDs in a win over Tampa Bay last week.
“When they hit our quarterback a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott commented. “I don’t like that stat at all. It’s just not a healthy way to compete and it isn't a good way to preserve our quarterback in good shape for the remaining games. We’ve got to play better.”
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 in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being contacted so many times during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I ran into a couple personally. I’ve got to be more effective at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I was losing ground.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half sacks to top the Houston defense. His second one occurred when he nearly took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and Anderson rose and pursued him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt in the third quarter.
The Bills played for a second straight game absent receiver Keon Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was late to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was earlier benched for the opening drive of a defeat to the Patriots in the fifth week after also being late for a meeting.
No change. We’re just approaching it day by day,” the coach said. “I thought he had a improved week, but we are handling it step by step. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we opted for the players that give us the best chance.”
Khalil Shakir topped the Bills with eight receptions for 110 yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
The quarterback was disappointed that the Bills were unable to execute in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we’ve got perform, and we didn’t do a good job of that tonight,” he concluded. “Whatever scenario and any circumstance, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
