Allen Sacked Eight Occasions as Final-Minute Pickoff Seals Fate of Bills in Defeat to Houston
Little went well for the Bills' quarterback in a frustrating game Thursday night against the Houston Texans.
Yet he came close to driving the Bills to a win before an interception in the last moments sealed their fate in a close loss.
The quarterback endured back-to-back sacks on the Bills’ final possession, leading to a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (7-4) gained significant yardage on a short pass from Josh Allen to a receiver, who flipped a lateral to another teammate.
After a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth down situation for Buffalo, a Texans defender picked off the quarterback's throw at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds remaining.
“We had a chance to come out on top there at the end,” Josh Allen stated. “Our team performed a solid job of hanging tough and our defense saved us a few instances. We’ve got find a way, and we didn’t.”
Proved tough for Allen to establish rhythm on a evening he was sacked a career-high on eight occasions and hit four other times. Allen passed for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after producing six TDs in a win over Tampa Bay the previous week.
“When they pressure our quarterback a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott commented. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It is not a healthy way to compete and it’s not a smart way to keep our field general in good shape for the remaining games. We need to improve our performance.”
Josh Allen was sluggish to rise after a sack in the opening two quarters. He said he was fine 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 myself. I’ve got to be more effective at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I was losing ground.”
Allen lost 70 yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had 2.5 sacks to lead the Texans. His second one came when he almost sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and the defender got up and pursued him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt in the third quarter.
Buffalo competed for a second straight game absent receiver Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was late to a team meeting before their last game. He was previously held out for the first series of a defeat to New England in the fifth week after also being late for a meeting.
“Nothing new. We are taking it day by day,” McDermott said. “I thought he had a improved week, but we’re taking it one day at a time. It was not that it was ignored, but we opted for the players that provide the best chance.”
Khalil Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight catches for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
The quarterback was frustrated that the Bills were unable to execute down the stretch.
In the end, we’ve got perform, and we failed to succeed of that this evening,” he concluded. “No matter the scenario and whatever condition, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we came up short.”