Allen Taken Down Eight Occasions as Final-Minute Pickoff Seals Fate of Buffalo in Defeat to Houston

Very little went right for the Bills' quarterback in a disappointing contest Thursday night against the Texans.

Yet he nearly managed to driving the Buffalo Bills to a win before an interception in the last moments sealed their fate in a 23-19 loss.

The quarterback took consecutive tackles for loss on the team's last drive, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (7-4) gained significant yardage on a short pass from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a lateral to Khalil Shakir.

After a pre-snap infraction created a fourth down situation for Buffalo, a Texans defender intercepted the quarterback's throw at the 9-yard line with under half a minute left.

“We had a opportunity to win it there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen stated. “Our team performed a good job of staying in it and our defense saved us a few instances. We must figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”

It was difficult for Allen to establish rhythm on a evening he was sacked a career-high on eight occasions and pressured four other times. Allen threw for 253 yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after producing six TDs in a victory over the Buccaneers last week.

Whenever they hit our quarterback 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach Sean McDermott commented. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It is not a healthy way to play and it’s not a good way to preserve our field general healthy for the remaining games. We need to play better.”

Josh Allen was slow to get up after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He said he was OK and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being contacted so frequently during the game.

It's unpleasant,” he said. “I encountered a few myself. I’ve got to be better at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I found myself losing ground.”

The Bills' QB lost 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Anderson had two and a half tackles for loss to top the Texans. Another sack came when he almost took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and Anderson got up and pursued him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt in the third quarter.

The Bills competed for a second consecutive matchup absent wideout Keon Coleman after he was again a non-participant 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 New England in the fifth week after also being late for a team session.

No change. We’re just approaching it one day at a time,” the coach said. “I felt he had a improved week, but we’re handling it step by step. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the players that give us the optimal opportunity.”

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

Allen was frustrated that the team couldn’t execute in crucial moments.

“Ultimately, we must execute, and we didn’t do a good job of that this evening,” he concluded. “Whatever situation and any circumstance, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
Gregory Morgan
Gregory Morgan

Elena Visser is a Dutch curator and writer passionate about emerging artists and creative culture.