Little went right for the Bills' quarterback in a tough contest Thursday night versus the Houston Texans.
And still he came close to willing the Bills to a win before an late pick in the last moments sealed their fate in a close loss.
The quarterback took consecutive sacks on the team's last drive, leading to a long fourth down, but Buffalo (with seven wins) gained significant yardage on a quick throw from Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.
After a false-start penalty led to a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, Calen Bullock picked off Allen’s throw at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds remaining.
“We had a opportunity to win it there at the conclusion,” Allen said. “Our team performed a good job of staying in it and our defense bailed us out a couple of times. We must figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”
Proved difficult for Allen to establish rhythm on a night he was brought down a personal-worst eight times and pressured four other times. The QB threw for 253 yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after producing six touchdowns in a victory over the Buccaneers last week.
“When they hit our quarterback 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach Sean McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It is not a safe way to compete and it isn't a smart way to keep our quarterback in good shape for the rest of the season. We’ve got 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 “lost some feeling” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being contacted so frequently during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I encountered a few personally. I’ve got to be better at disposing of the football. Too many times, I found myself going backwards.”
The Bills' QB lost 70 yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had two and a half tackles for loss to lead the Texans. Another sack occurred when he nearly took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and Anderson got up and pursued him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt in the third quarter.
The Bills played for a second straight game without wideout Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was late to a team meeting before their last game. He was earlier benched for the opening drive of a loss to New England in Week 5 after also being late for a meeting.
No change. We’re just taking it day by day,” McDermott said. “I thought he had a improved week, but we’re taking it step by step. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the players that give us the best chance.”
Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.
Allen was disappointed that the team were unable to make plays down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we must execute, and we didn’t do a good job of that tonight,” he concluded. “No matter the situation and whatever circumstance, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”
