Allen Sacked 8 Times as Final-Minute Pickoff Seals Fate of Buffalo in Defeat to Texans

Very little went well for Josh Allen in a disappointing contest on Thursday evening against the Texans.

And still he came close to willing the Buffalo Bills to a win before an interception in the last moments sealed their fate in a close defeat.

Allen endured consecutive sacks on the team's last drive, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (with seven wins) picked up significant yardage on a short pass from Allen to a receiver, who tossed a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.

After a false-start penalty created a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, Calen Bullock intercepted the quarterback's throw at the 9-yard line with under half a minute left.

“We had a opportunity to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen said. “We did a solid job of hanging tough and our defensive unit saved us a couple of times. We’ve got find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”

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

“When they hit our QB a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach Sean McDermott commented. “I don’t like that stat at all. It’s just not a healthy way to compete and it’s not a smart way to keep our quarterback healthy for the remaining games. We need to play better.”

Allen was slow to get up after a sack in the first half. He indicated he was fine and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being contacted so frequently on Thursday.

It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I ran into a few personally. I need to be more effective at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I found myself going backwards.”

Allen lost 70 yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 tackles for loss to lead the Texans. Another sack came when he nearly sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and the defender got up and chased him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt early in the third.

The Bills played for a second straight game absent wideout Keon Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was late to a squad gathering before their last game. He was earlier held out for the first series of a loss to the Patriots in Week 5 after additionally being delayed for a meeting.

No change. We’re just taking it one day at a time,” McDermott noted. “I felt he had a better week, but we are taking it step by step. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we opted for the guys that provide the best chance.”

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

Allen was disappointed that the team couldn’t make plays in crucial moments.

In the end, we must execute, and we failed to do a good job of that this evening,” he concluded. “No matter the scenario and any circumstance, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
Christopher Wyatt
Christopher Wyatt

A software engineer and tech writer passionate about AI ethics and open-source projects, with over a decade in the industry.