Little went well for the Bills' quarterback in a disappointing contest on Thursday evening versus the Texans.
Yet he came close to willing the Bills to a victory before an interception in the last moments sealed their fate in a 23-19 defeat.
The quarterback took back-to-back 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 quick throw from Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a backward pass to another teammate.
Following a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth down situation for Buffalo, Calen Bullock intercepted the quarterback's throw at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds left.
“We had a opportunity to come out on top there at the end,” Allen stated. “Our team performed a good job of hanging tough and our defense saved us a couple of times. We must find a way, and we didn’t.”
Proved tough for the signal-caller to establish rhythm 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 Tampa Bay last week.
“When they pressure our QB a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach McDermott said. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It is not a healthy way to play and it isn't a smart way to preserve our field general in good shape for the rest of the season. We’ve got to improve our performance.”
Allen was sluggish to get up after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He said he was fine and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being hit so frequently during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I ran into a couple personally. I need to be better at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I found myself losing ground.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had 2.5 sacks to lead the Texans. Another sack occurred when he almost sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and the defender rose and chased him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt early in the third.
The Bills competed for a second consecutive matchup without receiver Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was previously held out for the opening drive of a loss to New England in the fifth week after also being late for a team session.
No change. We’re just taking it one day at a time,” the coach said. “I felt he had a improved week, but we’re handling it one day at a time. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the players that give us the best chance.”
Khalil Shakir led the Bills with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.
Allen was frustrated that the team were unable to make plays in crucial moments.
In the end, we must execute, and we didn’t succeed of that tonight,” he said. “No matter the situation and whatever condition, we need to find a way, and we came up short.”
