Josh Allen Sacked 8 Times as Final-Minute Pickoff Seals Fate of Buffalo in Defeat to Texans

Little went right for Josh Allen in a frustrating contest Thursday night versus the Texans.

And still he nearly managed to driving the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an interception in the final minute ended their hopes in a close defeat.

The quarterback endured back-to-back tackles for loss on the Bills’ last drive, resulting in a long fourth down, but Buffalo (with seven wins) picked up significant yardage on a quick throw from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a backward pass to another teammate.

After a false-start penalty created a fourth down situation for the Bills, a Texans defender intercepted the quarterback's throw at the 9-yard line with under half a minute left.

We possessed a chance to win it there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen said. “We did a solid job of staying in it and our defense bailed us out a few instances. We must find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”

It was tough for Allen to get anything going on a night he was brought down a personal-worst on eight occasions and pressured four other times. The QB threw for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after producing six touchdowns in a victory over Tampa Bay the previous week.

Whenever they pressure our QB a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It’s just not a safe way to play and it’s not a smart way to keep our field general healthy for the rest of the season. We need to improve our performance.”

Allen was sluggish to rise after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was fine and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being contacted so frequently during the game.

It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I encountered a couple personally. I’ve got to be better 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 2.5 sacks to lead the Houston defense. His second one occurred when he nearly took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and Anderson rose and pursued him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt in the third quarter.

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 earlier held out for the opening drive of a defeat to New England in Week 5 after also being delayed for a meeting.

No change. We are taking it one day at a time,” the coach noted. “I thought he had a improved week, but we are handling it step by step. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the players that give us the optimal opportunity.”

Shakir led the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 rushing 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 failed to succeed of that this evening,” he said. “No matter the situation and any circumstance, we need to discover a solution, and we came up short.”
Jennifer Hughes
Jennifer Hughes

A software engineer and tech writer specializing in AI applications and modern web frameworks, with over 8 years of industry experience.