Josh Allen Taken Down Eight Occasions as Late Interception Dooms Buffalo in Defeat to Texans

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

And still he nearly managed to driving the Bills to a win before an interception in the last moments ended their hopes in a 23-19 loss.

Allen endured consecutive sacks on the team's final possession, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (with seven wins) gained 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-and-6 for the Bills, a Texans defender picked off Allen’s pass at the 9-yard line with under half a minute remaining.

We possessed a opportunity to come out on top there at the end,” Josh Allen stated. “We did a solid job of staying in it and our defense saved us a few instances. We’ve got find a way, and we didn’t.”

It was difficult for Allen to establish rhythm on a night he was sacked a career-high eight times and hit four additional instances. The QB passed for 253 yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after accounting for six TDs in a win over the Buccaneers last week.

Whenever they hit our quarterback a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott said. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It’s just not a healthy way to play and it isn't a smart way to preserve our quarterback healthy for the remaining games. We need to improve our performance.”

Josh Allen was sluggish to get up after a sack in the first half. He said he was OK and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being contacted so frequently during the game.

It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I encountered a couple myself. I’ve got to be more effective at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I was losing ground.”

Allen surrendered 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half tackles for loss to top the Texans. His second one came when he almost sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and the defender rose and pursued him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt in the third quarter.

The Bills played 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 first series of a loss to New England in the fifth week after also being delayed for a meeting.

“Nothing new. We are approaching it one day at a time,” the coach noted. “I felt he had a better week, but we are handling it step by step. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the players that provide the optimal opportunity.”

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

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

“Ultimately, we’ve got execute, and we didn’t succeed of that tonight,” he concluded. “No matter the scenario and any circumstance, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
Crystal Morgan
Crystal Morgan

A seasoned journalist with over a decade of experience covering media and technology, passionate about uncovering impactful stories.