Josh Allen Sacked 8 Occasions as Late Pickoff Seals Fate of Buffalo in Defeat to Houston

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

Yet he nearly managed to driving the Bills to a win before an interception in the last moments ended their hopes in a close loss.

Allen endured consecutive 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 Josh Palmer, who flipped a lateral to Khalil Shakir.

After a false-start penalty created a fourth down situation for the Bills, a Texans defender picked off the quarterback's throw at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds remaining.

โ€œWe had a chance to win it there at the end,โ€ Josh Allen said. โ€œWe did a good job of hanging tough and our defense bailed us out a few instances. Weโ€™ve got find a way, and unfortunately we failed.โ€

Proved difficult for Allen to establish rhythm on a night he was brought down a career-high eight times and pressured four other times. The QB threw for 253 yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after accounting for six touchdowns in a win over the Buccaneers last week.

โ€œWhen they hit our quarterback a dozen times, that's unacceptable,โ€ Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott commented. โ€œI disapprove of that stat at all. Itโ€™s just not a healthy way to play and it isn't a good way to keep our field general healthy for the rest of the season. Weโ€™ve got to improve our performance.โ€

Allen was slow to rise after a sack in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was fine and that his shoulder โ€œwent a little numbโ€ after he landed on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being hit so many times during the game.

It's unpleasant,โ€ he said. โ€œI ran into a couple personally. Iโ€™ve got to be better at disposing of the football. Too many times, I found myself losing ground.โ€

Allen surrendered 70 yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had 2.5 tackles for loss to top the Houston defense. His second one occurred when he nearly sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and the defender rose and chased him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt early in the third.

Buffalo played for a second consecutive matchup absent receiver Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was late to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was earlier benched for the first series of a loss to the Patriots in Week 5 after additionally being delayed for a meeting.

No change. We are approaching it day by day,โ€ McDermott noted. โ€œI felt he had a improved week, but weโ€™re taking it one day at a time. It was not that it was ignored, but we went with the guys that give us the optimal opportunity.โ€

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

The quarterback was disappointed that the team were unable to execute down the stretch.

In the end, we must execute, and we didnโ€™t succeed of that tonight,โ€ he said. โ€œWhatever situation and any condition, we need to discover a solution, and we came up short.โ€
Terri Davis
Terri Davis

Lena is a seasoned innovation consultant with over a decade of experience helping startups transform ideas into successful ventures.