Little went well for the Bills' quarterback in a frustrating game on Thursday evening against the Texans.
And still he came close to driving the Bills to a win before an interception in the final minute sealed their fate in a 23-19 defeat.
Allen endured consecutive sacks on the Bills’ last drive, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (with seven wins) gained significant yardage on a short pass from Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a lateral to Khalil Shakir.
After a pre-snap infraction created a fourth down situation for Buffalo, a Texans defender intercepted Allen’s pass at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds left.
We possessed a chance to win it there at the conclusion,” Allen said. “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 we didn’t.”
Proved tough for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a night he was sacked a career-high on eight occasions and hit four other times. Allen threw for 253 yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after producing six TDs in a win over Tampa Bay the previous week.
“When they hit our quarterback 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach Sean McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It’s just not a safe way to compete and it’s not a smart way to preserve our field general healthy for the remaining games. We need to play better.”
Allen was slow to get up after a sack in the first half. He indicated he was OK and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being hit so frequently during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I encountered a few personally. I need to be better at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I found myself losing ground.”
Allen lost 70 yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half tackles for loss to lead the Houston defense. Another sack occurred when he almost took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and the defender rose and chased him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt early in the third.
Buffalo played for a second straight game absent receiver Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was late to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was previously held out for the opening drive of a defeat to New England in the fifth week after additionally being late for a meeting.
No change. We are approaching it one day at a time,” the coach noted. “I felt he had a better week, but we are handling it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the guys that give us the best chance.”
Shakir led the Bills with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
Allen was frustrated that the team couldn’t execute down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we must perform, and we didn’t do a good job of that tonight,” he said. “Whatever situation and any circumstance, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
