🔗 Share this article

Very little went well for Josh Allen in a frustrating contest on Thursday evening against the Texans.

And still he came close to willing the Bills to a victory before an interception in the final minute ended their hopes in a 23-19 loss.

Allen took consecutive sacks on the team's last drive, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (with seven wins) gained 44 yards on a quick throw from Josh Allen to a receiver, who flipped a lateral to another teammate.

After a pre-snap infraction created a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, Calen Bullock intercepted the quarterback's throw at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds left.

We possessed a chance to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Allen stated. “We did a solid job of staying in it and our defensive unit saved us a couple of times. We must figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”

It was difficult for Allen to establish rhythm on a night he was brought down a personal-worst on eight occasions and pressured four other times. The QB threw for 253 yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after producing six touchdowns in a win over the Buccaneers last week.

“When they pressure our QB 12 times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott commented. “I don’t like that stat at all. It’s just not a safe way to play and it isn't a good way to keep our field general healthy for the rest of the season. We need to play better.”

Josh Allen was slow to get up after a sack in the opening two quarters. He said he was fine and that his 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 need to be better at disposing of the football. Too many times, I found myself losing ground.”

Allen surrendered 70 yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half tackles for loss to lead the Houston defense. Another sack occurred when he nearly sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and the defender got up and pursued 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 consecutive matchup absent receiver Keon Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was previously held out for the first series of a loss to the Patriots in Week 5 after additionally being delayed for a meeting.

No change. We’re just approaching it one day at a time,” the coach said. “I thought he had a better week, but we are handling it step by step. It was not that it was ignored, but we went with the players that provide the best chance.”

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

The quarterback was frustrated that the Bills were unable to execute in crucial moments.

In the end, we must perform, and we failed to do a good job of that this evening,” he said. “No matter the situation and any circumstance, we need to discover a solution, and we came up short.”