Allen Taken Down 8 Occasions as Final-Minute Pickoff Seals Fate of Bills in Defeat to Texans

Very little clicked for Josh Allen in a tough game Thursday night against the Texans.

Yet he nearly managed to willing the Buffalo Bills to a win before an late pick in the last moments ended their hopes in a close defeat.

The quarterback took consecutive tackles for loss on the team's last drive, leading to a long fourth down, but Buffalo (7-4) gained 44 yards on a short pass from Allen to a receiver, who flipped a lateral to another teammate.

After a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, Calen Bullock picked off Allen’s pass at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds left.

“We had a chance to win it there at the end,” Josh Allen said. “We did a solid job of staying in it and our defense bailed us out a few instances. We must find a way, and we didn’t.”

Proved difficult for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a night he was sacked a career-high on eight occasions and hit four additional instances. The QB passed for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after producing six TDs in a win over Tampa Bay last week.

“When they hit our QB 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach McDermott commented. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It’s just not a healthy way to play and it’s not a smart way to preserve our quarterback healthy 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 “lost some feeling” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being hit so many times on Thursday.

“It’s not fun,” he said. “I ran into a couple personally. I need to be more effective at disposing of the football. Too many times, I found myself losing ground.”

Allen lost 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half tackles for loss to lead the Houston defense. His second one came when he nearly sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and Anderson rose and chased him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt early in the third.

Buffalo competed for a second straight game without receiver Keon Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was late to a team meeting before their last game. He was previously held out for the opening drive of a loss to the Patriots in Week 5 after additionally being delayed for a team session.

No change. We are taking it day by day,” the coach said. “I felt he had a better week, but we’re handling it step by step. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the players that give us the best chance.”

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

The quarterback was frustrated that the Bills couldn’t execute down the stretch.

“Ultimately, we’ve got execute, and we didn’t succeed of that tonight,” he concluded. “Whatever scenario and any condition, we need to discover a solution, and we came up short.”