Allen Taken Down Eight Occasions as Final-Minute Pickoff Seals Fate of Buffalo in Defeat to Houston

Little went right for Josh Allen in a disappointing contest on Thursday evening against the Texans.

Yet he nearly managed to driving the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an late pick in the last moments ended their hopes in a close defeat.

The quarterback endured back-to-back sacks on the Bills’ last drive, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (7-4) picked up 44 yards on a quick throw from Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a backward pass to another teammate.

Following a false-start penalty led to a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, Calen Bullock picked off the quarterback's throw at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds left.

“We had a opportunity to come out on top there at the end,” Allen said. “We did a solid job of staying in it and our defense saved us a few instances. We’ve got find a way, and we didn’t.”

It was difficult for Allen to establish rhythm on a evening he was sacked a personal-worst on eight occasions and hit four additional instances. Allen threw for 253 yards with two interceptions and zero scores after producing six touchdowns in a victory over the Buccaneers the previous week.

Whenever they hit our QB a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott said. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It is not a healthy way to compete and it’s not a good way to keep our field general in good shape for the remaining games. We’ve got to play better.”

Josh Allen was sluggish to get up after a sack in the opening two quarters. He said he was OK and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being hit so frequently during the game.

“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I ran into a couple personally. I’ve got to be more effective at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I was losing ground.”

The Bills' QB surrendered 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had 2.5 tackles for loss to lead the Houston defense. Another sack came when he almost 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 force a punt early in the third.

Buffalo played for a second straight game absent wideout Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was late to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was previously benched for the opening drive of a loss to New England in Week 5 after additionally being delayed for a meeting.

No change. We’re just approaching it day by day,” McDermott noted. “I thought he had a better week, but we are taking it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we opted for the players that provide the optimal opportunity.”

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

The quarterback was disappointed that the Bills couldn’t execute in crucial moments.

“Ultimately, we’ve got execute, and we failed to succeed of that tonight,” he said. “Whatever scenario and whatever condition, we’ve got to find a way, and we came up short.”
Kimberly Smith
Kimberly Smith

A tech enthusiast and digital strategist with over a decade of experience in web development and content creation.