Allen Taken Down 8 Times as Final-Minute Interception Seals Fate of Bills in Defeat to Texans

Very little went right for the Bills' quarterback in a frustrating contest on Thursday evening versus the Texans.

And still he nearly managed to willing the Bills to a win before an late pick in the last moments sealed their fate in a close loss.

The quarterback endured consecutive tackles for loss on the team's final possession, leading to a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (7-4) picked up significant yardage on a short pass from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a lateral to another teammate.

After a pre-snap infraction created a fourth down situation for the Bills, Calen Bullock intercepted the quarterback's throw at the Houston 9 with under half a minute left.

“We had a chance to win it there at the end,” Josh Allen stated. “We did a solid job of staying in it and our defensive unit bailed us out a couple of times. We’ve got figure it out, and we didn’t.”

It was tough for the signal-caller to get anything going on a evening he was sacked a personal-worst on eight occasions and hit four other times. The QB passed for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after accounting for six TDs in a win over Tampa Bay last week.

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

Allen was sluggish to rise after a tackle in the first half. He indicated he was OK and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was asked about being contacted so many times on Thursday.

“It’s not fun,” he said. “I encountered a couple personally. I’ve got to be more effective at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I found myself losing ground.”

Allen surrendered 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Anderson had 2.5 tackles for loss to top the Texans. His second one occurred when he nearly took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and Anderson rose and pursued him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt early in the third.

Buffalo competed for a second straight game without receiver Keon Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was tardy to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was earlier held out for the first series of a loss to the Patriots in Week 5 after also being late for a team session.

No change. We are approaching it one day at a time,” McDermott said. “I thought he had a improved week, but we’re taking it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we went with the players that give us the optimal opportunity.”

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

Allen was disappointed that the Bills were unable to execute in crucial moments.

“Ultimately, we’ve got perform, and we failed to succeed of that tonight,” he concluded. “No matter the situation and any condition, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”