Little went right for the Bills' quarterback in a tough game on Thursday evening versus the Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to driving the Bills to a victory before an late pick in the final minute ended their hopes in a close defeat.
The quarterback took consecutive sacks on the Bills’ last drive, leading to a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (7-4) picked up significant yardage on a short pass from Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.
After a false-start penalty created a fourth down situation for the Bills, Calen Bullock picked off Allen’s throw at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds remaining.
“We had a opportunity to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Allen stated. “We did a good job of hanging tough and our defense saved us a few instances. 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 other times. The QB passed for 253 yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after accounting for six TDs in a victory over Tampa Bay last week.
“When they hit our quarterback a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott said. “I don’t like that stat at all. It is not a safe way to play and it’s not a smart way to keep our quarterback healthy for the rest of the season. We’ve got to improve our performance.”
Allen was slow to get up after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He said he was fine and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being hit so frequently on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I ran into a couple myself. I’ve got to be better at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I was going backwards.”
The Bills' QB surrendered 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Anderson had two and a half sacks to top the Texans. His second one came when he nearly sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and the defender got up and chased him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt early in the third.
Buffalo competed for a second straight game without receiver Keon Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was late to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was previously benched for the opening drive of a defeat to New England in Week 5 after additionally being delayed for a team session.
“Nothing new. We are approaching it day by day,” McDermott said. “I felt he had a better week, but we are handling it step by step. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the players that give us the best chance.”
Shakir topped the Bills with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
The quarterback was frustrated that the Bills couldn’t make plays down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we must execute, and we didn’t do a good job of that this evening,” he said. “No matter the situation and any circumstance, we need to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
