Little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a frustrating game Thursday night versus the Texans.
Yet he came close to willing the Bills to a victory before an interception in the final minute ended their hopes in a 23-19 loss.
The quarterback took consecutive sacks on the team's final possession, resulting in a long fourth down, but Buffalo (with seven wins) picked up 44 yards on a quick throw from Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a backward pass to another teammate.
Following a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, Calen Bullock intercepted the quarterback's throw at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds left.
“We had a chance to come out on top there at the end,” Allen stated. “Our team performed a good job of hanging tough and our defensive unit bailed us out a couple of times. We’ve got find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”
Proved tough for Allen to establish rhythm on a evening he was sacked a personal-worst on eight occasions and hit four additional instances. Allen passed for 253 yards with two interceptions and zero scores after producing six TDs in a win over the Buccaneers last week.
Whenever they pressure our quarterback 12 times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “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 quarterback healthy for the remaining games. We need to improve our performance.”
Allen was sluggish to rise after a sack in the first half. He indicated he was fine and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being contacted so many times during the game.
“It’s not fun,” he said. “I ran into a couple myself. I’ve got to be more effective at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I found myself going backwards.”
Allen lost 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had two and a half tackles for loss to lead the Houston defense. His second one occurred when he almost took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and Anderson rose and pursued him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt in the third quarter.
Buffalo competed for a second straight game without wideout Keon Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their last game. 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’re just approaching it day by day,” McDermott said. “I felt he had a improved week, but we’re taking it step by step. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the guys that provide the best chance.”
Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.
Allen was disappointed that the team were unable to execute down the stretch.
“Ultimately, we must perform, and we failed to succeed of that this evening,” he said. “Whatever situation and any condition, we’ve got to find a way, and we came up short.”
