Allen Sacked 8 Occasions as Final-Minute Interception Dooms Bills in Loss to Texans

Very little went well for Josh Allen in a tough contest Thursday night against the Texans.

Yet he came close to willing the Buffalo Bills to a win before an interception in the last moments ended their hopes in a close defeat.

Allen endured back-to-back tackles for loss on the team's last drive, leading to a long fourth down, but the Bills (7-4) gained 44 yards on a quick throw from Allen to a receiver, who tossed a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.

After a pre-snap infraction created a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, a Texans defender picked off Allen’s pass at the Houston 9 with under half a minute remaining.

We possessed a opportunity to win it there at the end,” Allen said. “We did a good job of hanging tough and our defense saved us a few instances. We’ve got figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”

Proved tough for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a evening he was brought down a personal-worst on eight occasions and hit four other times. Allen passed for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after accounting for six touchdowns in a victory over Tampa Bay the previous week.

“When they pressure our quarterback 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott commented. “I don’t like that stat at all. It is not a healthy way to compete and it’s not a smart way to keep our quarterback healthy for the rest of the season. We need to play better.”

Allen was slow to get up after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He said he was OK and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being contacted so frequently during the game.

It's unpleasant,” he said. “I ran into a couple myself. I need to be more effective at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I found myself going backwards.”

Allen lost 70 yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half sacks to lead the Houston defense. His second one occurred when he nearly sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and the defender got up and pursued him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt in the third quarter.

Buffalo competed for a second straight game without 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 the Patriots in Week 5 after also being delayed for a team session.

“Nothing new. We’re just approaching it day by day,” the coach noted. “I thought he had a better week, but we’re handling it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the guys that provide the best chance.”

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

Allen was frustrated that the Bills couldn’t make plays down the stretch.

“Ultimately, we’ve got perform, and we didn’t succeed of that this evening,” he said. “Whatever scenario and any condition, we need to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”