Very little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a disappointing game on Thursday evening against the Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to driving the Bills to a win before an late pick in the last moments ended their hopes in a 23-19 defeat.
Allen endured consecutive tackles for loss on the team's last drive, leading to a long fourth down, but the Bills (7-4) picked up significant yardage on a short pass from Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a backward pass to another teammate.
After a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, Calen Bullock picked off Allen’s throw at the Houston 9 with under half a minute left.
We possessed a opportunity to win it there at the conclusion,” Allen stated. “We did a solid job of staying in it and our defensive unit saved us a few instances. We must figure it out, and we didn’t.”
Proved tough for the signal-caller to get anything going on a night he was sacked a personal-worst eight times and pressured four additional instances. The QB passed for 253 yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after producing six touchdowns in a victory over the Buccaneers the previous week.
Whenever they hit our QB a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach McDermott commented. “I don’t like that stat at all. It is not a safe way to compete and it isn't a good way to preserve our field general in good shape for the rest of the season. We need to play better.”
Allen was sluggish to rise after a sack in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was fine and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was asked about being contacted so frequently during the game.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I ran into a few myself. I’ve got to be more effective at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I was going backwards.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half sacks to top the Texans. Another sack came when he nearly took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and the defender got up and pursued him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt in the third quarter.
The Bills played for a second straight game without receiver Keon Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was late to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was earlier held out for the first series of a loss to the Patriots in Week 5 after also being late for a meeting.
No change. We are taking it day by day,” McDermott noted. “I thought he had a better week, but we are taking it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the guys that provide the best chance.”
Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 yards and Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.
The quarterback was frustrated that the Bills were unable to make plays down the stretch.
In the end, we’ve got perform, and we didn’t succeed of that this evening,” he concluded. “Whatever situation and any condition, we need to find a way, and we didn’t.”
