Little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a frustrating contest Thursday night versus the Texans.
Yet he nearly managed to driving the Bills to a victory before an interception in the final minute ended their hopes in a 23-19 defeat.
The quarterback endured back-to-back tackles for loss on the Bills’ final possession, resulting in a long fourth down, but the Bills (7-4) gained 44 yards on a short pass from Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a backward pass to another teammate.
After a false-start penalty led to a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, a Texans defender intercepted the quarterback's pass at the Houston 9 with under half a minute left.
We possessed a opportunity to win it there at the conclusion,” Allen stated. “Our team performed a good job of hanging tough and our defense bailed us out a few instances. We must find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was tough for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a evening he was sacked a personal-worst eight times and pressured four other times. The QB threw for 253 yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after accounting for six touchdowns in a win over Tampa Bay last week.
“When they hit our quarterback a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott commented. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It is not a healthy way to compete and it’s not a smart way to keep our quarterback healthy for the rest of the season. We need to improve our performance.”
Allen was sluggish to rise after a tackle in the first half. He indicated he was OK and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was asked about being contacted so many times on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he said. “I encountered a couple personally. I need to be more effective at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I found myself losing ground.”
Allen surrendered 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 sacks to top the Texans. His second one occurred when he almost sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and the defender rose and pursued him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt early in the third.
Buffalo competed for a second straight game absent receiver Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was previously held out for the opening drive of a defeat to the Patriots in Week 5 after additionally being late for a meeting.
“Nothing new. We’re just approaching it one day at a time,” the coach noted. “I felt he had a better week, but we’re taking it step by step. It was not that it was ignored, but we opted for the players that provide the best chance.”
Khalil Shakir topped the Bills with eight catches for 110 yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
Allen was frustrated that the Bills couldn’t make plays in crucial moments.
“Ultimately, we’ve got perform, and we didn’t do a good job of that tonight,” he said. “No matter the situation and any condition, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
