🔗 Share this article

Very little went right for Josh Allen in a frustrating contest Thursday night against the Texans.

Yet he came close to driving the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an interception in the final minute ended their hopes in a close defeat.

The quarterback took back-to-back tackles for loss on the team's final possession, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (7-4) gained significant yardage on a short pass from Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.

Following a false-start penalty led to a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, a Texans defender picked off the quarterback's throw at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds left.

“We had a chance to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Allen stated. “We did a good job of staying in it and our defensive unit bailed us out a few instances. We must figure it out, and we didn’t.”

Proved difficult for the signal-caller to get anything going on a evening he was sacked a personal-worst eight times and pressured four other times. Allen passed for 253 yards with two interceptions and zero scores after accounting for six TDs in a victory over the Buccaneers the previous week.

“When they hit our quarterback 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It is not a safe way to play and it isn't a good way to keep our field general healthy for the remaining games. We need to improve our performance.”

Josh Allen was sluggish to rise after a sack in the first half. He said he was fine and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being contacted so many times during the game.

It's unpleasant,” he said. “I encountered a couple myself. I need to be more effective at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I found myself going backwards.”

Allen surrendered 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had two and a half tackles for loss to lead the Texans. Another sack occurred when he nearly sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and Anderson got up and pursued him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt early in the third.

The Bills competed for a second consecutive matchup without receiver Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was tardy to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was previously held out for the first series of a defeat to New England in the fifth week after additionally being delayed for a team session.

“Nothing new. We are taking it day by day,” McDermott said. “I thought he had a improved week, but we’re handling it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the guys that provide the optimal opportunity.”

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

The quarterback was disappointed that the team were unable to make plays down the stretch.

“Ultimately, we’ve got execute, and we failed to succeed of that tonight,” he concluded. “No matter the situation and any circumstance, we need to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”