🔗 Share this article

Little went right for the Bills' quarterback in a disappointing contest on Thursday evening against the Houston Texans.

And still he nearly managed to willing the Bills to a win before an late pick in the final minute ended their hopes in a 23-19 loss.

Allen took consecutive sacks on the team's final possession, resulting in a long fourth down, but Buffalo (with seven wins) gained 44 yards on a short pass from Josh Allen to a receiver, who tossed a lateral to Khalil Shakir.

After a false-start penalty created a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, Calen Bullock picked off the quarterback's pass at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds left.

“We had a opportunity to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Allen stated. “We did a good job of staying in it and our defense saved us a few instances. We must figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”

Proved tough for Allen to get anything going on a evening he was sacked a career-high on eight occasions and hit four additional instances. Allen threw for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after accounting for six touchdowns in a victory over Tampa Bay the previous week.

Whenever they hit our QB 12 times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach Sean McDermott commented. “I don’t like that stat at all. It is not a healthy way to play and it isn't a good way to preserve our field general in good shape for the remaining games. We need to play better.”

Josh Allen was slow to rise after a sack in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was fine and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being contacted so many times during the game.

“It’s not fun,” he said. “I encountered a few myself. I’ve got to be better at disposing of the football. Too many times, I was losing ground.”

The Bills' QB surrendered 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 tackles for loss to lead the Texans. Another sack occurred when he almost took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and Anderson got up and chased him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt in the third quarter.

The Bills competed for a second straight game without wideout Keon Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was late to a squad gathering before their last game. He was earlier benched for the first series of a loss to New England in the fifth week after additionally being late for a meeting.

No change. We’re just taking it day by day,” 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 opted for the guys that give us the best chance.”

Khalil Shakir topped the Bills with eight catches for 110 yards and Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.

The quarterback was frustrated that the Bills were unable to make plays in crucial moments.

“Ultimately, we must execute, and we didn’t succeed of that this evening,” he concluded. “No matter the situation and any circumstance, we need to discover a solution, and we came up short.”