Josh Allen Taken Down Eight Times as Late Interception Dooms Bills in Loss to Houston

Very little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a disappointing contest Thursday night against the Houston Texans.

Yet he came close to driving the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an late pick in the final minute ended their hopes in a close defeat.

Allen endured back-to-back tackles for loss on the Bills’ final possession, resulting in a long fourth down, but Buffalo (7-4) picked up significant yardage on a quick throw from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.

Following a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth down situation for the Bills, Calen Bullock intercepted Allen’s pass at the 9-yard line with under half a minute remaining.

We possessed a opportunity to win it there at the conclusion,” Allen said. “We did a solid job of staying in it and our defense saved us a few instances. We must figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”

It was difficult for the signal-caller to get anything going on a evening he was sacked a personal-worst eight times and pressured four other times. The QB passed for 253 yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after accounting for six touchdowns in a victory over Tampa Bay the previous week.

Whenever they hit our QB a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It is not a safe way to play and it isn't a good way to preserve our quarterback in good shape for the remaining games. We need to improve our performance.”

Josh Allen was sluggish to get up after a sack in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was OK and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being contacted so many times on Thursday.

“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I encountered a few personally. I’ve got to be better at disposing of the football. Too many times, I was losing ground.”

Allen surrendered 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 sacks to lead the Texans. Another sack came when he almost sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and the defender got up and chased him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt in the third quarter.

Buffalo competed for a second straight game without wideout Keon Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was late to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was earlier held out for the first series of a defeat to the Patriots in the fifth week after additionally being late for a team session.

No change. We’re just taking it day by day,” McDermott said. “I felt he had a improved week, but we are taking it step by step. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we opted for the guys that provide the optimal opportunity.”

Shakir led the Bills with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.

Allen was disappointed that the Bills couldn’t make plays in crucial moments.

In the end, we must perform, and we failed to succeed of that tonight,” he concluded. “No matter the scenario and whatever condition, we need to find a way, and we didn’t.”