Allen Sacked Eight Occasions as Late Interception Seals Fate of Buffalo in Loss to Houston

Little clicked for Josh Allen in a tough contest on Thursday evening versus the Houston Texans.

And still he came close to willing the Bills to a win before an interception in the final minute sealed their fate in a close defeat.

Allen endured back-to-back tackles for loss on the Bills’ final possession, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (with seven wins) gained 44 yards on a short pass from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a lateral to Khalil Shakir.

Following a false-start penalty created a fourth down situation for the Bills, Calen Bullock intercepted the quarterback's pass at the Houston 9 with under half a minute remaining.

We possessed a opportunity to win it there at the end,” Allen stated. “Our team performed a good job of staying in it and our defensive unit bailed us out a few instances. We’ve got find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”

Proved difficult for Allen 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 yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after accounting for six TDs in a victory over Tampa Bay the previous week.

“When they pressure our quarterback 12 times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott said. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It is not a safe way to compete and it’s not a smart way to preserve our field general healthy for the remaining games. We’ve got to improve our performance.”

Allen was sluggish to rise after a tackle in the first half. He indicated he was fine and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being hit so many times on Thursday.

It's unpleasant,” he said. “I encountered a few personally. I need to be better at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I found myself going backwards.”

Allen surrendered 70 yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had two and a half tackles for loss to lead the Texans. Another sack occurred when he almost took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and the defender rose and chased him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt early in the third.

The Bills competed for a second consecutive matchup absent receiver Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was late to a team meeting before their last game. He was earlier held out for the opening drive of a defeat to the Patriots in the fifth week after also being late for a meeting.

No change. We’re just approaching it day by day,” the coach said. “I felt he had a improved week, but we are handling it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we went with the players that provide the best chance.”

Shakir topped 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 execute down the stretch.

“Ultimately, we must perform, and we failed to succeed of that tonight,” he concluded. “No matter the scenario and any condition, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”