🔗 Share this article

Very little went well for the Bills' quarterback in a disappointing contest on Thursday evening versus the Texans.

Yet he came close to willing the Buffalo Bills to a win before an late pick in the final minute ended their hopes in a close loss.

The quarterback endured back-to-back tackles for loss on the Bills’ last drive, leading to a long fourth down, but the Bills (with seven wins) picked up 44 yards on a quick throw from Josh Allen to a receiver, who flipped a backward pass to another teammate.

Following a pre-snap infraction created a fourth down situation for the Bills, Calen Bullock picked off Allen’s pass at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds remaining.

We possessed a chance to come out on top there at the end,” Allen said. “Our team performed a good job of staying in it and our defensive unit saved us a couple of times. We must find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”

Proved difficult for Allen to establish rhythm on a evening he was sacked a career-high eight times and pressured four additional instances. Allen passed for 253 yards with two interceptions and zero scores after accounting for six touchdowns in a win over the Buccaneers last week.

Whenever they hit our QB a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott said. “I don’t like that stat at all. It’s just not a healthy way to play and it isn't a good way to preserve our field general healthy for the rest of the season. We need to improve our performance.”

Josh Allen was sluggish to rise after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was fine and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was asked about being contacted so frequently on Thursday.

“It’s not fun,” he said. “I encountered a few myself. I’ve got to be better at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I was going backwards.”

Allen surrendered 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 tackles for loss to lead the Houston defense. Another sack occurred when he nearly sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and Anderson got up and pursued him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt in the third quarter.

The Bills played for a second consecutive matchup absent receiver Keon Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their last game. He was previously held out for the first series of a defeat to the Patriots in Week 5 after also being late for a meeting.

“Nothing new. We are approaching it day by day,” the coach said. “I thought he had a improved week, but we are handling it step by step. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we went with the guys that give us the best chance.”

Shakir topped the Bills with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.

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

In the end, we must perform, and we didn’t do a good job of that this evening,” he concluded. “No matter the scenario and whatever circumstance, we need to find a way, and we came up short.”