Little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a tough contest on Thursday evening versus the Texans.
Yet he came close to willing the Buffalo Bills to a win before an late pick in the last moments sealed their fate in a close defeat.
The quarterback endured consecutive tackles for loss on the Bills’ last drive, leading to a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (7-4) picked up 44 yards on a quick throw from Allen to a receiver, who flipped a lateral to another teammate.
Following a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, Calen Bullock picked off Allen’s pass at the 9-yard line with under half a minute left.
We possessed a opportunity to win it there at the conclusion,” Allen stated. “Our team performed a good job of hanging tough and our defense bailed us out a couple of times. We’ve got find a way, and we didn’t.”
It was difficult for Allen to get anything going on a evening he was brought down a career-high eight times and pressured four additional instances. Allen threw for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after accounting for six TDs in a win over the Buccaneers last week.
“When they hit our QB 12 times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach Sean McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It’s just not a healthy way to play and it’s not a smart way to preserve our field general in good shape for the remaining games. We need to play better.”
Allen was slow to rise after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He said he was fine and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was asked about being contacted so frequently on Thursday.
“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I ran into a couple personally. I need to be more effective at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I found myself losing ground.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 sacks to lead the Houston defense. Another sack came when he nearly took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and Anderson got up and chased him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt early in the third.
Buffalo played for a second consecutive matchup absent receiver Keon Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was earlier held out for the opening drive of a loss to the Patriots in Week 5 after also being late for a meeting.
“Nothing new. We are taking it day by day,” the coach said. “I felt he had a improved week, but we’re handling it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we opted for the guys that give us the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir led the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 yards and Cook had 116 yards and a score.
Allen was disappointed that the Bills were unable to execute down the stretch.
In the end, we’ve got execute, and we didn’t do a good job of that tonight,” he said. “Whatever situation and whatever circumstance, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we came up short.”
