🔗 Share this article

Little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a disappointing game on Thursday evening versus the Houston Texans.

Yet he nearly managed to willing the Bills to a victory before an interception in the final minute sealed their fate in a close defeat.

Allen endured back-to-back tackles for loss on the Bills’ final possession, leading to a long fourth down, but Buffalo (with seven wins) picked up significant yardage on a quick throw from Josh Allen to a receiver, who flipped a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.

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

We possessed a opportunity to win it there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen said. “Our team performed a good job of hanging tough and our defensive unit saved us a couple of times. We must figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”

Proved difficult for Allen to establish rhythm on a evening he was brought down a personal-worst on eight occasions and hit four other times. The QB passed for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after accounting for six touchdowns in a victory over the Buccaneers the previous week.

“When they hit our quarterback 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott commented. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It’s just not a healthy way to compete and it isn't a good way to keep our field general healthy for the rest of the season. We’ve got to improve our performance.”

Allen was slow to get up after a tackle in the first half. He indicated he was fine and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being hit so frequently during the game.

“It’s not fun,” he said. “I ran into a couple myself. I need to be better at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I was going backwards.”

The Bills' QB surrendered 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half sacks to top the Houston defense. His second one came when he nearly sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and Anderson got up and chased him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt in the third quarter.

Buffalo competed for a second consecutive matchup without wideout Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was late to a team meeting before their last game. He was earlier held out for the first series of a defeat to New England in the fifth week after also being delayed for a team session.

No change. We’re just approaching it one day at a time,” McDermott said. “I thought he had a improved week, but we’re taking it step by step. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the players that give us the best chance.”

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

Allen was disappointed that the team were unable to execute in crucial moments.

In the end, we must perform, and we didn’t succeed of that tonight,” he said. “No matter the situation and whatever circumstance, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”