Allen Sacked 8 Times as Late Interception Dooms Buffalo in Defeat to Texans

Very little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a frustrating contest on Thursday evening against the Houston Texans.

And still he nearly managed to driving the Bills to a win before an interception in the final minute ended their hopes in a 23-19 loss.

The quarterback took consecutive tackles for loss on the Bills’ final possession, leading to a long fourth down, but the Bills (with seven wins) picked up 44 yards on a short pass from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a lateral to another teammate.

Following a false-start penalty created a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, Calen Bullock intercepted the quarterback's throw at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds left.

“We had a opportunity to win it there at the conclusion,” Allen stated. “We did a good 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 get anything going on a night he was brought down a personal-worst on eight occasions and hit four other times. Allen threw for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after producing six touchdowns in a victory over Tampa Bay the previous week.

“When they pressure our quarterback a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott said. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It is not a healthy way to compete and it’s not a smart way to keep our field general healthy for the rest of the season. We need to play better.”

Josh Allen was sluggish to get up after a tackle 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 contacted so many times on Thursday.

It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I encountered a couple personally. I’ve got to be more effective at disposing of the football. Too many times, I was losing ground.”

The Bills' QB lost 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half tackles for loss to lead the Texans. His second one occurred when he nearly sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and Anderson got up and pursued him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt early in the third.

The Bills played for a second straight game absent receiver Keon Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their last game. He was earlier benched for the first series of a defeat to New England in Week 5 after also being late for a meeting.

No change. We are taking it one day at a time,” McDermott said. “I felt he had a improved week, but we are handling it one day at a time. It was not that it was ignored, but we went with the players that give us the best chance.”

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

Allen was frustrated that the Bills were unable to make plays down the stretch.

In the end, we’ve got perform, and we failed to succeed of that tonight,” he concluded. “Whatever situation and whatever condition, we need to find a way, and we didn’t.”
Nathan Wheeler
Nathan Wheeler

A tech journalist with over a decade of experience covering AI and digital transformation, passionate about exploring how technology shapes society.

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