Josh Allen Sacked 8 Occasions as Final-Minute Pickoff Dooms Bills in Defeat to Texans

Little went right for the Bills' quarterback in a disappointing contest Thursday night against the Houston Texans.

Yet he nearly managed to driving the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an interception in the final minute sealed their fate in a 23-19 loss.

The quarterback took back-to-back sacks on the team's final possession, resulting in a long fourth down, but the Bills (with seven wins) picked up 44 yards on a quick throw from Josh Allen to a receiver, who flipped a lateral to another teammate.

Following a false-start penalty led to a fourth down situation for Buffalo, a Texans defender picked off the quarterback's pass at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds remaining.

We possessed a chance to come out on top there at the end,” Allen stated. “We did a solid job of hanging tough and our defense saved us a few instances. We must find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”

It was tough for the signal-caller to get anything going on a night he was sacked a career-high on eight occasions and hit four additional instances. The QB threw for 253 yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after producing six touchdowns in a win over Tampa Bay last week.

Whenever they pressure our QB 12 times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach Sean McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It’s just not a healthy way to compete and it isn't a good way to preserve our field general in good shape for the rest of the season. We’ve got to play better.”

Allen was slow to rise after a tackle in the first half. He said he was fine and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being contacted so many times during the game.

It's unpleasant,” he said. “I encountered a couple myself. I’ve got to be more effective at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I was losing ground.”

The Bills' QB surrendered 70 yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had 2.5 sacks to lead the Texans. Another sack occurred when he nearly sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and Anderson got up and chased him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt in the third quarter.

Buffalo played for a second consecutive matchup without receiver Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was late to a squad gathering before their last game. He was earlier held out for the opening drive of a loss to the Patriots in the fifth week after additionally being late for a meeting.

“Nothing new. We’re just taking it day by day,” McDermott noted. “I thought he had a better week, but we are handling it one day at a time. It was not that it was ignored, but we went with the guys that provide the best chance.”

Khalil Shakir led the Bills with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.

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

In the end, we’ve got perform, and we didn’t do a good job of that this evening,” he said. “No matter the situation and whatever circumstance, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”