Josh Allen Taken Down 8 Times as Late Pickoff Seals Fate of Bills in Defeat to Texans

Very little went right for Josh Allen in a frustrating contest on Thursday evening against the Texans.

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

The quarterback endured consecutive tackles for loss on the team's final possession, leading to a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (with seven wins) gained significant yardage on a quick throw from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a lateral to another teammate.

Following a false-start penalty led to a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, a Texans defender intercepted Allen’s throw at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds remaining.

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

Proved tough for Allen to establish rhythm on a night he was sacked a career-high eight times and pressured four other times. The QB passed for 253 yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after accounting for six TDs in a victory over the Buccaneers last week.

“When they hit our quarterback a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach Sean McDermott commented. “I don’t like that stat at all. It’s just not a safe way to compete and it isn't a good way to preserve our field general healthy for the rest of the season. We’ve got to improve our performance.”

Allen was sluggish to get up after a sack in the first half. He said he was OK and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being contacted so frequently on Thursday.

“It’s not fun,” he said. “I encountered a couple personally. I need to be better at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I was going backwards.”

The Bills' QB surrendered 70 yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 tackles for loss to lead the Texans. His second one occurred when he nearly took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and the defender got up and chased him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt early in the third.

The Bills competed for a second consecutive matchup without 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 held out for the opening drive of a loss to New England in the fifth week after additionally being late for a meeting.

No change. We’re just taking it day by day,” McDermott noted. “I thought he had a improved week, but we’re taking it step by step. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the players that provide the best chance.”

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

Allen was disappointed that the team were unable to make plays in crucial moments.

In the end, we’ve got execute, and we didn’t do a good job of that this evening,” he concluded. “Whatever situation and any condition, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
Jonathan Jackson
Jonathan Jackson

A tech enthusiast and digital strategist with over a decade of experience in software development and emerging technologies.