Allen Sacked 8 Times as Final-Minute Pickoff Dooms Buffalo in Loss to Houston

Little went well for Josh Allen in a tough game Thursday night versus the Houston Texans.

And still he nearly managed to driving the Buffalo Bills to a win before an late pick in the last moments sealed their fate in a 23-19 loss.

Allen endured back-to-back tackles for loss on the team's last drive, leading to a long fourth down, but Buffalo (7-4) picked up 44 yards on a quick throw from Josh Allen to a receiver, who flipped a lateral to another teammate.

After a false-start penalty created a fourth down situation for Buffalo, a Texans defender picked off Allen’s throw at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds left.

“We had a opportunity to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen stated. “Our team performed a solid job of hanging tough and our defensive unit saved us a couple of times. We’ve got find a way, and we didn’t.”

Proved difficult for the signal-caller to get anything going on a evening he was brought down a career-high on eight occasions and pressured four additional instances. Allen threw for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and zero scores after accounting for six TDs in a victory over Tampa Bay last week.

“When they hit our QB 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach McDermott said. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It’s just 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 play better.”

Josh Allen was slow to get up after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He said he was fine 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 not fun,” he said. “I encountered a couple myself. I need to be more effective at disposing of the football. Too many times, I found myself going backwards.”

Allen lost 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had 2.5 sacks to lead the Texans. His second one came when he nearly sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and the defender rose and pursued him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt early in the third.

The Bills played for a second consecutive matchup without wideout Keon Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was previously 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 taking it one day at a time,” the coach said. “I felt he had a better week, but we are taking it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the players that give us the optimal opportunity.”

Khalil Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.

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

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