Allen Taken Down 8 Occasions as Final-Minute Interception Seals Fate of Buffalo in Defeat to Texans

Very little went right for the Bills' quarterback in a disappointing contest on Thursday evening against the Houston Texans.

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

Allen took back-to-back sacks on the Bills’ final possession, leading to a long fourth down, but Buffalo (with seven wins) picked up significant yardage on a short pass from Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a lateral to another teammate.

After a false-start penalty created a fourth down situation for Buffalo, a Texans defender intercepted the quarterback's pass at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds left.

We possessed a chance to win it there at the end,” Josh Allen stated. “Our team performed a solid job of staying in it and our defensive unit bailed us out a couple of times. We’ve got figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”

Proved tough for Allen to get anything going on a evening he was sacked a career-high eight times and pressured four other times. Allen passed for 253 yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after producing six touchdowns in a win over Tampa Bay the previous week.

Whenever they pressure our QB a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott said. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It is not a healthy way to play and it’s not a smart way to keep our quarterback in good shape for the remaining games. We need to improve our performance.”

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

It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I ran into a couple myself. I’ve got to be better at disposing of the football. Too many times, I was going backwards.”

Allen lost 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 sacks to lead the Texans. His second one occurred when he almost took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and Anderson rose and chased him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt in the third quarter.

The Bills played for a second straight game without wideout Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was previously benched for the first series of a defeat to New England in the fifth week after also being delayed for a meeting.

No change. We are approaching it one day at a time,” the coach said. “I felt he had a better week, but we are taking it step by step. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the guys that give us the best chance.”

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

Allen was frustrated that the team were unable to execute down the stretch.

“Ultimately, we must perform, and we didn’t do a good job of that tonight,” he concluded. “Whatever situation and any circumstance, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
Erika Ayala
Erika Ayala

A seasoned collector and writer specializing in vintage and modern trading cards, with over a decade of experience in the hobby.