Very little went well for the Bills' quarterback in a tough game Thursday night versus the Houston Texans.
Yet he came close to willing the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an interception in the last moments ended their hopes in a 23-19 defeat.
The quarterback endured back-to-back tackles for loss on the team's last drive, leading to a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (7-4) gained 44 yards on a short pass from Allen to a receiver, who flipped a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.
After a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, a Texans defender picked off the quarterback's throw at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds remaining.
“We had a opportunity to come out on top there at the end,” Allen said. “Our team performed a good job of hanging tough and our defensive unit saved us a few instances. We must figure it out, and we didn’t.”
Proved difficult for Allen to establish rhythm on a evening he was sacked a personal-worst eight times and pressured four additional instances. The QB threw for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after producing six touchdowns in a win over Tampa Bay the previous week.
“When they hit our quarterback 12 times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach Sean McDermott commented. “I don’t like that stat at all. It’s just not a safe way to compete and it isn't a smart way to keep our field general in good shape for the rest of the season. We need to play better.”
Allen was sluggish to rise after a tackle in the first half. He said he was OK and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being contacted so frequently during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I encountered a few myself. I need to be more effective at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I found myself going backwards.”
Allen surrendered 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half tackles for loss to lead the Texans. His second one came when he nearly took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and Anderson rose and pursued him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt early in the third.
The Bills played for a second straight game without receiver Keon Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their last game. He was earlier held out for the first series of a defeat to New England in Week 5 after additionally being delayed for a meeting.
No change. We are taking it one day at a time,” the coach noted. “I thought he had a better week, but we are taking it step by step. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we opted for the guys that give us 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 disappointed that the Bills were unable to make plays in crucial moments.
In the end, we’ve got execute, and we didn’t do a good job of that this evening,” he concluded. “Whatever scenario and any circumstance, we need to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
