Little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a frustrating game Thursday night versus the Texans.
Yet he came close to driving the Buffalo Bills to a win before an interception in the final minute ended their hopes in a 23-19 loss.
Allen took consecutive tackles for loss on the Bills’ final possession, resulting in a long fourth down, but the Bills (7-4) gained significant yardage on a quick throw from Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.
After a pre-snap infraction created a fourth down situation for Buffalo, a Texans defender picked off the quarterback's throw at the 9-yard line with under half a minute left.
We possessed a opportunity to win it there at the end,” Allen stated. “Our team performed a solid job of hanging tough and our defense bailed us out a couple of times. We must figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”
Proved difficult for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a evening he was sacked a personal-worst on eight occasions and pressured four other times. The QB passed for 253 yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after accounting for six TDs in a victory over Tampa Bay the previous week.
“When they hit our QB 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott said. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It’s just not a healthy way to compete and it isn't a good way to keep our field general in good shape for the remaining games. We’ve got to play better.”
Allen was slow to rise after a sack in the first half. He indicated he was OK and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was asked about being hit so frequently during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I encountered a few personally. I’ve got to be more effective at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I found myself going backwards.”
Allen lost 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Anderson had two and a half tackles for loss to top the Houston defense. His second one came when he nearly took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and Anderson got up and chased him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt early in the third.
Buffalo played for a second consecutive matchup without wideout Keon Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their last game. He was earlier benched for the opening drive of a loss to the Patriots in the fifth week after additionally being delayed for a meeting.
No change. We’re just taking it one day at a time,” the coach noted. “I thought he had a better week, but we are handling it step by step. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the players that provide the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
The quarterback was disappointed that the team couldn’t execute down the stretch.
In the end, we must perform, and we didn’t succeed of that tonight,” he concluded. “No matter the situation and any condition, we need to find a way, and we didn’t.”
