🔗 Share this article

Little went right for Josh Allen in a tough game Thursday night versus the Texans.

Yet he came close to driving the Buffalo Bills to a win before an interception in the final minute sealed their fate in a close defeat.

The quarterback took back-to-back sacks on the team's final possession, resulting in a long fourth down, but Buffalo (7-4) gained significant yardage on a short pass from Allen to a receiver, who tossed a lateral to Khalil Shakir.

After a false-start penalty led to a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, Calen Bullock picked off Allen’s throw at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds left.

We possessed a chance to come out on top there at the end,” Allen said. “Our team performed a solid job of hanging tough and our defensive unit saved us a couple of times. We must find a way, and we didn’t.”

It was difficult for Allen to establish rhythm on a evening he was brought down a personal-worst eight times and hit four other times. The QB threw for 253 yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after producing six TDs in a win over Tampa Bay the previous week.

Whenever they pressure our quarterback 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It’s just not a healthy way to compete and it isn't a good way to keep our field general healthy for the rest of the season. We need to improve our performance.”

Allen was slow to get up after a tackle in the first half. He said he was OK and that his left 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 myself. I need to be more effective at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I found myself going backwards.”

The Bills' QB lost 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Anderson had 2.5 sacks to lead the Texans. Another sack came when he almost sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and Anderson rose and chased him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt early in the third.

Buffalo played for a second consecutive matchup without receiver Keon Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their last game. He was earlier benched for the first series of a defeat to the Patriots in Week 5 after additionally being delayed for a meeting.

No change. We are taking it one day at a time,” the coach noted. “I thought he had a better week, but we’re taking it one day at a time. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the players that provide the optimal opportunity.”

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

Allen was frustrated that the team were unable to execute in crucial moments.

In the end, we must perform, and we didn’t do a good job of that tonight,” he concluded. “Whatever situation and any circumstance, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”