Josh Allen Sacked 8 Times as Final-Minute Interception Dooms Buffalo in Defeat to Texans

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

Yet he nearly managed to driving the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an late pick in the final minute ended their hopes in a close defeat.

The quarterback endured back-to-back sacks on the Bills’ last drive, leading to a long fourth down, but Buffalo (7-4) gained significant yardage on a quick throw from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a lateral to another teammate.

After a false-start penalty led to a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, Calen Bullock intercepted the quarterback's throw at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds remaining.

We possessed a opportunity to win it there at the end,” Josh Allen stated. “We did a good job of staying in it and our defensive unit saved us a few instances. We must figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”

Proved difficult for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a evening he was brought down a career-high eight times and pressured four additional instances. The QB passed for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after producing six touchdowns in a victory over the Buccaneers the previous week.

“When they pressure our QB a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach McDermott said. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It is not a healthy way to play and it’s not a smart way to preserve our quarterback in good shape for the rest of the season. We’ve got to play better.”

Josh Allen was slow to get up after a sack in the opening two quarters. He said he was fine and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being hit so frequently on Thursday.

It's unpleasant,” he said. “I ran into a few personally. I need to be more effective at disposing of the football. Too many times, I was losing ground.”

Allen lost 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had 2.5 sacks to top the Houston defense. His second one came when he nearly took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and Anderson got up and pursued him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt early in the third.

The Bills competed for a second consecutive matchup absent wideout Keon Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was late to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was earlier held out for the first series of a defeat to New England in Week 5 after additionally being delayed for a team session.

“Nothing new. We are taking it one day at a time,” McDermott noted. “I thought he had a better week, but we’re handling it step by step. It was not that it was ignored, but we opted for the guys that give us the best chance.”

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

Allen was disappointed that the Bills couldn’t execute in crucial moments.

“Ultimately, we must perform, and we didn’t succeed of that tonight,” he said. “No matter the scenario and whatever condition, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we came up short.”