Very little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a frustrating game Thursday night versus the Houston Texans.
And still he nearly managed to driving the Buffalo Bills to a win before an late pick in the final minute sealed their fate in a close loss.
Allen endured back-to-back tackles for loss on the team's final possession, resulting in a fourth-and-27, 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.
Following a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth down situation for Buffalo, Calen Bullock intercepted Allen’s pass at the 9-yard line 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 hanging tough and our defensive unit bailed us out a few instances. We’ve got find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
It was tough for Allen to establish rhythm on a night he was brought down a personal-worst eight times and hit four additional instances. The QB passed for 253 yards with two interceptions and zero scores after producing six touchdowns in a victory over the Buccaneers last week.
Whenever they hit our quarterback a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It’s just not a healthy way to compete and it isn't a good way to preserve our quarterback healthy for the rest of the season. We need to improve our performance.”
Allen was slow to rise after a tackle in the first half. He said he was fine and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being contacted so many times on Thursday.
It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I ran into a couple myself. I’ve got to be more effective at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I found myself going backwards.”
Allen surrendered 70 yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had 2.5 tackles for loss to lead the Houston defense. Another sack 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 loss to force a punt early in the third.
Buffalo played for a second consecutive matchup absent wideout Keon Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was tardy 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 team session.
No change. We are taking it one day at a time,” McDermott noted. “I thought he had a improved week, but we are taking it step by step. It was not that it was ignored, but we went with the guys that provide the optimal opportunity.”
Shakir led the Bills with eight catches for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a score.
Allen was frustrated that the team were unable to execute down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we’ve got perform, and we failed to do a good job of that this evening,” he said. “Whatever scenario and whatever condition, we need to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
