Josh Allen Sacked 8 Occasions as Final-Minute Interception Dooms Buffalo in Defeat to Houston

Little went well for the Bills' quarterback in a frustrating game on Thursday evening against the Texans.

Yet he came close to driving the Bills to a victory before an late pick in the final minute ended their hopes in a close loss.

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

After a false-start penalty led to a fourth down situation for Buffalo, a Texans defender intercepted Allen’s throw at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds left.

We possessed a chance to come out on top there at the end,” Allen stated. “We did a solid job of hanging tough and our defense bailed us out a couple of times. We must figure it out, and we didn’t.”

Proved tough for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a evening he was sacked a career-high eight times and hit four additional instances. The QB passed for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after accounting for six touchdowns in a victory over the Buccaneers the previous week.

Whenever they pressure our quarterback 12 times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It’s just not a healthy way to compete and it’s not a good way to preserve our quarterback in good shape for the remaining games. We’ve got to improve our performance.”

Josh Allen was sluggish to rise after a sack in the first half. He said he was fine and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being hit so many times on Thursday.

“It’s not fun,” he said. “I encountered a couple personally. I need to be more effective at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I found myself losing ground.”

The Bills' QB surrendered 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half sacks to lead the Houston defense. His second one occurred when he almost sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and the defender rose and chased him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt in the third quarter.

Buffalo played for a second consecutive matchup without wideout Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was previously benched for the opening drive of a loss to the Patriots in Week 5 after also being delayed for a team session.

“Nothing new. We’re just approaching it one day at a time,” McDermott said. “I felt he had a improved week, but we are taking it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the players that provide the best chance.”

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

Allen was disappointed that the team couldn’t execute down the stretch.

“Ultimately, we’ve got execute, and we didn’t succeed of that tonight,” he said. “No matter the situation and whatever condition, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”
Teresa Steele
Teresa Steele

A tech enthusiast and digital strategist with over a decade of experience in analyzing emerging technologies and their impact on society.