Little went right for the Bills' quarterback in a tough game on Thursday evening against the Houston Texans.
And still he nearly managed to driving the Buffalo Bills to a win before an late pick in the final minute ended their hopes in a 23-19 loss.
Allen endured back-to-back sacks on the Bills’ final possession, resulting in a long fourth down, but the Bills (7-4) picked up significant yardage on a short pass from Allen to a receiver, who flipped a lateral to Khalil Shakir.
Following a pre-snap infraction created a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, Calen Bullock picked off Allen’s pass at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds left.
We possessed a opportunity to win it there at the end,” Allen said. “We did a good job of hanging tough and our defensive unit saved us a couple of times. We must figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was difficult for the signal-caller to get anything going on a evening he was brought down a personal-worst on eight occasions and pressured four additional instances. The QB threw for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and zero scores after producing six TDs in a win over Tampa Bay last week.
Whenever they hit our quarterback a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “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 healthy for the rest of the season. We’ve got to play better.”
Allen was slow to get up after a sack in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was OK and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being contacted so many times on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I encountered a couple myself. I need to be more effective at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I was losing ground.”
Allen lost 70 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 almost sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and Anderson got up and chased him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt in the third quarter.
The Bills played for a second straight game without receiver Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was late to a team meeting before their last game. He was earlier held out for the opening drive of a defeat to the Patriots in Week 5 after also being late for a meeting.
No change. We’re just approaching it one day at a time,” McDermott said. “I thought he had a improved week, but we are taking it one day at a time. It was not that it was ignored, but we went with the players that give us the optimal opportunity.”
Khalil Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
Allen was disappointed that the team were unable to execute in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we’ve got execute, and we failed to succeed of that this evening,” he concluded. “Whatever situation and any condition, we need to discover a solution, and we came up short.”
