Little went well for the Bills' quarterback in a tough contest on Thursday evening against the Houston Texans.
And still he nearly managed to willing the Bills to a win before an late pick in the last moments ended their hopes in a 23-19 defeat.
The quarterback endured consecutive tackles for loss on the Bills’ last drive, leading to a long fourth down, but the Bills (7-4) gained 44 yards on a quick throw from Allen to a receiver, who tossed a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.
After a pre-snap infraction created a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, a Texans defender picked off Allen’s throw at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds left.
“We had a chance to win it there at the conclusion,” Allen said. “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. The QB threw for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and zero scores after producing six TDs in a victory over Tampa Bay last week.
“When they hit our quarterback 12 times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach McDermott commented. “I don’t like that stat at all. It’s just not a safe way to compete and it’s not a good way to preserve our quarterback healthy for the rest of the season. We’ve got to improve our performance.”
Allen was slow to get up after a sack 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 questioned about being contacted so many times during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I encountered a couple myself. I’ve got to be better at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I was going backwards.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half tackles for loss to lead the Houston defense. His second one came when he almost took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and the defender rose and chased him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt in the third quarter.
The Bills competed for a second consecutive matchup without wideout Keon Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was late to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was earlier benched for the opening drive of a defeat to New England in the fifth week after additionally being delayed for a meeting.
“Nothing new. We’re just approaching 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 wasn’t thought about, but we went with the guys that give us the best chance.”
Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
The quarterback 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 this evening,” he said. “Whatever situation and any circumstance, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”
