🔗 Share this article

Little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a tough game on Thursday evening versus the Texans.

Yet he nearly managed to willing the Bills to a victory before an interception in the last moments sealed their fate in a close loss.

Allen took back-to-back sacks on the team's last drive, leading to a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (with seven wins) picked up 44 yards on a short pass from Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a lateral to Khalil Shakir.

After a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth down situation for Buffalo, a Texans defender picked off the quarterback's pass at the Houston 9 with under half a minute remaining.

“We had a opportunity to win it there at the end,” Josh Allen stated. “Our team performed a good job of staying in it and our defense saved us a couple of times. We must figure it out, and we didn’t.”

It was difficult for the signal-caller to get anything going on a night he was brought down a personal-worst eight times and hit four additional instances. The QB passed for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after accounting for six touchdowns in a win over the Buccaneers the previous week.

Whenever they hit our QB 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It’s just not a safe way to play and it isn't a smart way to keep our quarterback in good shape for the remaining games. We need to improve our performance.”

Allen was slow to rise after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was OK and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being hit so many times during the game.

It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I ran into a few personally. I’ve got to be better at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I found myself losing ground.”

Allen surrendered 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 tackles for loss to lead the Houston defense. His second one came when he nearly sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and the defender got up and chased him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt early in the third.

Buffalo competed for a second straight game without wideout 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 loss to New England in the fifth week after also being late for a team session.

“Nothing new. We’re just taking it day by day,” McDermott noted. “I thought he had a better week, but we’re handling it step by step. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the players that provide the best chance.”

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

Allen was frustrated that the team couldn’t execute down the stretch.

“Ultimately, we’ve got execute, and we failed to do a good job of that tonight,” he said. “Whatever situation and whatever condition, we need to find a way, and we didn’t.”