Josh Allen Taken Down Eight Occasions as Late Interception Seals Fate of Buffalo in Loss to Houston

Very little went well for Josh Allen in a disappointing contest Thursday night against the Houston Texans.

And still he nearly managed to driving the Bills to a victory before an interception in the final minute sealed their fate in a 23-19 defeat.

Allen took back-to-back tackles for loss on the team's last drive, leading to a long fourth down, but Buffalo (with seven wins) gained significant yardage on a quick throw from Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a lateral to another teammate.

Following a pre-snap infraction created a fourth down situation for Buffalo, Calen Bullock intercepted Allen’s throw at the 9-yard line with under half a minute left.

“We had a opportunity to win it there at the end,” Allen said. “Our team performed a solid job of hanging tough and our defensive unit saved us a couple of times. We’ve got find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”

Proved difficult for the signal-caller to get anything going on a night he was brought down a career-high on eight occasions and pressured four additional instances. Allen passed for 253 yards with two interceptions and zero scores after producing six touchdowns in a win over the Buccaneers last week.

Whenever they hit our QB 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott said. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It is not a safe way to compete and it’s not a good way to keep our quarterback in good shape for the remaining games. We need to improve our performance.”

Allen was sluggish to rise after a sack in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was OK and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being hit so frequently during the game.

It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I encountered a few personally. I’ve got to be more effective at disposing of the football. Too many times, I was losing ground.”

Allen lost 70 yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had two and a half sacks to lead the Houston defense. His second one came when he almost took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and the defender rose and pursued him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt early in the third.

The Bills competed for a second straight game absent receiver Keon Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was late to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was previously held out for the first series of a defeat to the Patriots in the fifth week after additionally being late for a meeting.

No change. We are approaching it one day at a time,” McDermott said. “I thought he had a improved week, but we are taking it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we went with the guys that give us the optimal opportunity.”

Shakir led the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.

The quarterback was frustrated that the team couldn’t make plays down the stretch.

In the end, we must execute, and we didn’t do a good job of that this evening,” he concluded. “Whatever situation and any condition, we’ve got to find a way, and we came up short.”
Willie Jimenez
Willie Jimenez

Urban journalist and city enthusiast with a passion for uncovering stories that shape modern metropolitan life.