🔗 Share this article

Very little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a disappointing game on Thursday evening against the Texans.

And still he came close to willing the Bills to a victory before an interception in the last moments ended their hopes in a close loss.

Allen endured back-to-back sacks on the Bills’ final possession, leading to a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (with seven wins) picked up significant yardage on a quick throw from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a backward pass to another teammate.

After a false-start penalty led to a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, a Texans defender intercepted Allen’s throw at the Houston 9 with under half a minute left.

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

Proved difficult for Allen to establish rhythm on a night he was brought down a personal-worst on eight occasions and pressured four additional instances. The QB passed for 253 yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after accounting for six touchdowns in a win over the Buccaneers the previous week.

Whenever they pressure our QB 12 times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach McDermott said. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It is not a safe way to compete and it’s not a good way to keep our field general in good shape for the rest of the season. We need to play better.”

Allen was sluggish to get up after a tackle in the first half. He said he was fine and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being hit so many times on Thursday.

“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I encountered a few myself. I need to be better at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I was losing ground.”

Allen lost 70 yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had two and a half sacks to top the Texans. Another sack came when he nearly sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and Anderson rose and chased him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt in the third quarter.

The Bills played for a second straight game absent receiver Keon Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was late to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was earlier benched for the first series of a defeat to the Patriots in the fifth week after also being delayed for a meeting.

“Nothing new. We are approaching it one day at a time,” the coach noted. “I felt he had a improved week, but we’re handling it step by step. It was not that it was ignored, but we opted for the players that give us the optimal opportunity.”

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

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

“Ultimately, we must execute, and we didn’t do a good job of that tonight,” he concluded. “Whatever scenario and any condition, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”