Josh Allen Taken Down Eight Occasions as Late Interception Dooms Buffalo in Loss to Houston

Very little clicked for Josh Allen in a frustrating game on Thursday evening against the Houston Texans.

And still he came close to willing the Bills to a victory before an interception in the last moments sealed their fate in a 23-19 loss.

The quarterback endured consecutive tackles for loss on the team's final possession, leading to a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (7-4) picked up significant yardage on a quick throw from Josh Allen to a receiver, who tossed a lateral to Khalil Shakir.

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

We possessed a opportunity to win it there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen stated. “We did a solid job of staying in it and our defensive unit saved us a few instances. We’ve got figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”

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

“When they pressure our quarterback 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott said. “I don’t like that stat at all. It’s just not a healthy way to compete and it’s not a good way to keep our quarterback healthy for the remaining games. We’ve got to improve our performance.”

Allen was sluggish to get up after a tackle in the first half. He indicated he was OK and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being hit so frequently 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. On multiple occasions, I was losing ground.”

Allen lost 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Anderson had 2.5 sacks to top the Houston defense. Another sack occurred when he almost sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and the defender rose and pursued him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt in the third quarter.

The Bills played for a second consecutive matchup without receiver Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was late to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was previously held out for the opening drive of a loss to New England in the fifth week after additionally being late for a team session.

No change. We are approaching it one day at a time,” the coach said. “I felt he had a improved 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 players that provide the best chance.”

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 couldn’t execute down the stretch.

“Ultimately, we’ve got execute, and we didn’t succeed of that tonight,” he said. “Whatever scenario and whatever condition, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”
Gary Singleton
Gary Singleton

A tech enthusiast and digital strategist with over a decade of experience in emerging technologies and content creation.