Josh Allen Sacked 8 Times as Final-Minute Interception Seals Fate of Bills in Defeat to Texans

Very little went right for the Bills' quarterback in a frustrating game on Thursday evening against the Houston Texans.

Yet he came close to driving the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an interception in the last moments sealed their fate in a 23-19 defeat.

The quarterback endured back-to-back sacks on the team's last drive, resulting in a long fourth down, but Buffalo (with seven wins) picked up 44 yards on a short pass from Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a lateral to Khalil Shakir.

Following a false-start penalty created a fourth down situation for Buffalo, Calen Bullock picked off the quarterback's pass at the Houston 9 with under half a minute left.

We possessed a chance to win it there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen stated. “Our team performed a solid job of staying in it and our defensive unit bailed us out a couple of times. We must figure it out, and we didn’t.”

It was difficult for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a evening he was sacked a personal-worst eight times and pressured four additional instances. The QB passed for 253 yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after producing six touchdowns in a victory over the Buccaneers last week.

Whenever they hit our QB 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It is not a safe way to play and it isn't a smart way to preserve our field general in good shape for the remaining games. We’ve got to play better.”

Josh Allen was sluggish to get up after a sack in the opening two quarters. He said he was OK and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was asked about being contacted so frequently during the game.

“It’s not fun,” he said. “I encountered a couple personally. I need to be better at disposing of the football. Too many times, I was losing ground.”

The Bills' QB surrendered 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 tackles for loss to top the Houston defense. His second one came when he almost took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and Anderson rose and pursued him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt early in the third.

Buffalo competed for a second consecutive matchup without receiver Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was late to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was previously benched for the opening drive of a defeat to New England in Week 5 after additionally being delayed for a meeting.

“Nothing new. We’re just taking it one day at a time,” McDermott said. “I thought 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 players that give us the best chance.”

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

Allen was frustrated that the Bills couldn’t execute down the stretch.

“Ultimately, we’ve got perform, and we didn’t do a good job of that tonight,” he concluded. “Whatever situation and any circumstance, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
Jacob Wilson
Jacob Wilson

Elara Vance is a wellness coach and writer passionate about holistic health and mindfulness, sharing insights to help others thrive.