Very little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a tough contest on Thursday evening against the Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to driving the Bills to a win before an interception in the last moments ended their hopes in a close defeat.
Allen took back-to-back sacks on the Bills’ last drive, leading to a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (with seven wins) gained 44 yards on a quick throw from Allen to a receiver, who tossed a backward pass to another teammate.
Following a pre-snap infraction created a fourth down situation for Buffalo, a Texans defender picked off Allen’s throw at the 9-yard line with under half a minute remaining.
We possessed a chance to win it there at the conclusion,” Allen stated. “We did a good job of hanging tough and our defensive unit saved us a few instances. 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 sacked a personal-worst eight times and hit four additional instances. The QB passed for 253 yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after accounting for six touchdowns in a win over the Buccaneers the previous week.
“When they hit our quarterback a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It is not a safe way to compete and it’s not a smart way to keep our field general in good shape for the rest of the season. We need to improve our performance.”
Allen was sluggish to get up after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He said he was fine and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being contacted so many times on Thursday.
“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I ran into a few personally. I’ve got to be more effective at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I was going backwards.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half tackles for loss to lead the Houston defense. Another sack occurred when he nearly took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and Anderson rose and chased him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt early in the third.
Buffalo played for a second straight game absent receiver Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was late to a team meeting before their last game. He was previously benched for the opening drive of a loss to New England in the fifth week after also being late for a team session.
No change. We’re just taking it day by day,” the coach noted. “I thought he had a better week, but we are taking it step by step. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the guys that give us the optimal opportunity.”
Khalil Shakir topped the Bills with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 yards and a score.
Allen was frustrated that the Bills couldn’t execute down the stretch.
In the end, we must perform, and we failed to do a good job of that this evening,” he said. “No matter the scenario and whatever circumstance, we need to find a way, and we came up short.”
