Allen Sacked 8 Times as Final-Minute Pickoff Seals Fate of Bills in Loss to Houston

Little went right for Josh Allen in a frustrating contest on Thursday evening versus the Texans.

Yet he came close to willing the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an interception in the final minute ended their hopes in a 23-19 defeat.

The quarterback took consecutive sacks on the team's last drive, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (with seven wins) gained significant yardage on a quick throw from Josh Allen to a receiver, who tossed a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.

After a false-start penalty led to a fourth down situation for the Bills, Calen Bullock intercepted the quarterback's throw at the 9-yard line with under half a minute remaining.

“We had a opportunity to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen said. “We did a solid job of staying in it and our defensive unit bailed us out a couple of times. We must figure it out, and we didn’t.”

Proved tough for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a evening he was sacked a personal-worst on eight occasions and pressured four additional instances. The QB threw for 253 yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after accounting for six TDs in a victory over Tampa Bay the previous week.

“When they hit our QB a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach McDermott said. “I don’t like that stat at all. It is not a safe way to compete and it’s not a smart way to preserve our field general in good shape for the rest of the season. We need to improve our performance.”

Josh Allen was sluggish to rise after a sack in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was OK and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being hit so many times during the game.

It's unpleasant,” he said. “I encountered a couple myself. I’ve got to be more effective at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I found myself losing ground.”

The Bills' QB surrendered 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half sacks to top the Texans. His second one occurred when he nearly took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and the defender got up and chased him across the field 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 without receiver Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was late to a squad gathering before their last game. He was earlier benched for the first series of a defeat to the Patriots in Week 5 after also being delayed for a team session.

No change. We’re just taking it one day at a time,” the coach 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 players that give us the best chance.”

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

Allen was frustrated that the team couldn’t make plays in crucial moments.

“Ultimately, we must perform, and we failed to do a good job of that tonight,” he said. “No matter the situation and whatever circumstance, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
Jessica Vasquez
Jessica Vasquez

Elena Thornwood is a child development specialist and passionate advocate for play-based learning, with over 15 years of experience in early childhood education.