Allen Taken Down Eight Occasions as Final-Minute Interception Seals Fate of Bills in Loss to Texans

Very little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a frustrating contest Thursday night versus the Houston Texans.

And still he nearly managed to driving the Buffalo Bills to a win before an interception in the final minute sealed their fate in a 23-19 defeat.

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

After a false-start penalty led to a fourth down situation for Buffalo, Calen Bullock picked off Allen’s throw at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds remaining.

We possessed a opportunity to win it there at the end,” Allen said. “We did a solid job of staying in it and our defense bailed us out a few instances. We’ve got find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”

Proved tough for the signal-caller to establish rhythm 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 two interceptions and zero scores after producing six touchdowns in a win over the Buccaneers last week.

“When they pressure our quarterback a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It’s just not a safe way to play and it’s not a smart way to preserve our field general in good shape for the remaining games. We’ve got to play better.”

Josh Allen was sluggish to get up after a sack in the opening two quarters. He said he was fine and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was asked about being contacted so frequently on Thursday.

“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I ran into a couple personally. I’ve got to be better at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I was losing ground.”

The Bills' QB surrendered 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Anderson had two and a half tackles for loss to lead the Houston defense. Another sack came when he nearly sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and Anderson rose and chased him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to force 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 last game. He was previously held out for the opening drive of a defeat to the Patriots in the fifth week after additionally being delayed for a meeting.

“Nothing new. We’re just taking it day by day,” McDermott noted. “I felt he had a improved week, but we are taking it step by step. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the players that provide the optimal opportunity.”

Shakir topped the Bills with eight receptions for 110 yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.

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

In the end, we’ve got execute, and we failed to do a good job of that this evening,” he concluded. “Whatever scenario and any circumstance, we need to find a way, and we came up short.”