Josh Allen Taken Down Eight Times as Final-Minute Pickoff Seals Fate of Buffalo in Defeat to Houston

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

Yet he came close to willing the Bills to a victory before an interception in the final minute sealed their fate in a 23-19 loss.

Allen endured back-to-back tackles for loss on the Bills’ last drive, leading to a long fourth down, but the Bills (7-4) picked up 44 yards on a quick throw from Josh Allen to a receiver, who flipped a backward pass to another teammate.

After a false-start penalty created a fourth down situation for the Bills, Calen Bullock intercepted the quarterback's throw at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds left.

“We had a opportunity to come out on top 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’ve got figure it out, and we didn’t.”

It was difficult for Allen to establish rhythm on a evening he was sacked a personal-worst eight times and pressured four additional instances. Allen passed for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and zero scores after accounting for six TDs in a victory over the Buccaneers the previous week.

Whenever they hit our QB 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott said. “I don’t like that stat at all. It’s just not a safe way to compete and it’s not a good way to keep our quarterback in good shape for the remaining games. We need to play better.”

Josh Allen was slow to get up after a tackle in the first half. He indicated he was OK and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being hit so many times on Thursday.

It's unpleasant,” he said. “I encountered a couple personally. I’ve got to be better at disposing of the football. Too many times, I found myself losing ground.”

Allen lost 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had 2.5 sacks to top the Houston defense. Another sack came when he almost took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and the defender got up and chased him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt in the third quarter.

The Bills competed for a second consecutive matchup without wideout Keon Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was late to a team meeting before their last game. He was previously benched for the first series of a defeat to the Patriots in the fifth week after also being delayed for a team session.

No change. We are taking it one day at a time,” the coach said. “I thought 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 give us the optimal opportunity.”

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

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

In the end, we’ve got perform, and we didn’t do a good job of that tonight,” he concluded. “No matter the scenario and whatever circumstance, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
Robert Turner
Robert Turner

A certified tea sommelier with over a decade of experience in sourcing and reviewing artisanal teas from around the world.

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