Very little went well for the Bills' quarterback in a disappointing contest Thursday night versus the Houston Texans.
Yet he came close to willing the Buffalo Bills to a win before an late pick in the last moments ended their hopes in a close loss.
Allen endured back-to-back tackles for loss on the Bills’ last drive, resulting in a long fourth down, but Buffalo (7-4) picked up significant yardage on a short pass from Allen to a receiver, who flipped a backward pass to another teammate.
After a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth down situation for Buffalo, a Texans defender picked off Allen’s throw at the Houston 9 with under half a minute remaining.
We possessed a chance to win it there at the conclusion,” Allen said. “Our team performed a solid job of staying in it and our defensive unit saved us a few instances. We must find a way, and we didn’t.”
Proved difficult for Allen to establish rhythm on a evening he was sacked a career-high eight times and hit four other times. The QB threw for 253 yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after producing six touchdowns in a win over Tampa Bay the previous week.
Whenever they hit our quarterback a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It is not a safe way to play and it isn't a good way to keep our field general healthy for the remaining games. We need to improve our performance.”
Allen was slow to get up after a sack in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was fine and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was asked about being hit so many times during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I encountered a few myself. I need to be better at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I found myself going backwards.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 sacks to top the Texans. His second one occurred when he nearly took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and the defender got up and pursued him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt early in the third.
The Bills played for a second straight game without receiver Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was late to a squad gathering before their last game. He was earlier benched for the opening drive of a defeat to New England in the fifth week after additionally being late for a team session.
“Nothing new. We are approaching it one day at a time,” McDermott said. “I felt 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 guys that give us the optimal opportunity.”
Khalil Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a score.
Allen was frustrated that the Bills were unable to make plays in crucial moments.
In the end, we must execute, and we failed to succeed of that this evening,” he concluded. “Whatever situation and whatever condition, we need to find a way, and we came up short.”
