Little went right for the Bills' quarterback in a tough contest Thursday night against the Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to willing the Bills to a victory before an late pick in the last moments sealed their fate in a close loss.
Allen endured consecutive tackles for loss on the Bills’ last drive, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (7-4) picked up significant yardage on a short pass from Allen to a receiver, who tossed a lateral to another teammate.
Following a pre-snap infraction created a fourth down situation for Buffalo, Calen Bullock intercepted Allen’s throw at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds left.
“We had a opportunity to come out on top 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 must figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”
Proved tough for Allen to establish rhythm on a night 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 no touchdowns after producing six TDs in a victory over Tampa Bay the previous week.
“When they pressure our quarterback a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It is not a safe way to compete and it’s not a smart way to keep our field general healthy for the rest of the season. We need to improve our performance.”
Allen was sluggish to rise after a sack in the first half. He said he was fine and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being contacted so many times on Thursday.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I ran into a couple personally. I need to be better at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I found myself losing ground.”
The Bills' QB surrendered 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 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 wriggled away and the defender rose and chased him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt in the third quarter.
Buffalo played for a second consecutive matchup without wideout Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was earlier held out for the first series of a defeat to New England in Week 5 after also being late for a team session.
No change. We are taking it day by day,” the coach said. “I thought he had a improved week, but we are taking it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we went with the players that provide the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir topped the Bills with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
The quarterback was frustrated that the team couldn’t make plays in crucial moments.
In the end, we must execute, and we didn’t succeed of that tonight,” he said. “No matter the situation and any circumstance, we need to find a way, and we didn’t.”
