Allen Taken Down Eight Occasions as Late Pickoff Seals Fate of Bills in Loss to Texans

Little went well for Josh Allen in a frustrating game on Thursday evening against the Houston Texans.

And still he nearly managed to willing the Bills to a win before an late pick in the final minute ended their hopes in a close loss.

Allen took consecutive tackles for loss on the team's last drive, leading to a long fourth down, but Buffalo (with seven wins) gained 44 yards on a short pass from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a lateral to Khalil Shakir.

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 remaining.

“We had a chance to win it there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen said. “We did a good job of hanging tough and our defense bailed us out a few instances. We must find a way, and we didn’t.”

Proved tough for the signal-caller to get anything going on a evening he was brought down a personal-worst eight times and hit four other times. The QB threw for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after producing six TDs in a win over Tampa Bay last week.

Whenever they hit our quarterback 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott commented. “I don’t like that stat at all. It’s just not a safe way to play and it’s not a good way to keep our field general in good shape for the rest of the season. We need to improve our performance.”

Allen was sluggish to rise after a sack in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was OK and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being contacted so frequently during the game.

It's unpleasant,” he said. “I encountered a few myself. I’ve got to be more effective at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I was losing ground.”

The Bills' QB surrendered 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had two and a half sacks to lead the Texans. Another sack came when he nearly sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and the defender rose and chased him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt early in the third.

Buffalo played for a second consecutive matchup without wideout 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 meeting.

No change. We’re just approaching it day by day,” McDermott noted. “I felt he had a improved week, but we’re handling it one day at a time. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the players that give us the best chance.”

Shakir led the Bills with eight receptions for 110 yards and Cook had 116 yards and a score.

The quarterback was frustrated that the team were unable to execute in crucial moments.

“Ultimately, we must execute, and we didn’t do a good job of that this evening,” he said. “No matter the situation and any circumstance, we need to find a way, and we didn’t.”