Josh Allen sacked eight times as late interception dooms Bills in loss to Texans | NFL
Things went well for Josh Allen in a frustrating Thursday night game against the Houston Texans. And yet, he nearly gave the Buffalo Bills a victory before an interception in the final minute sealed their fate in a 23-19 loss.
Allen took back-to-back sacks on the Bills’ final possession, leading to a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (7-4) gained 44 yards on a short pass from Allen to Josh Palmer, who threw a lateral to Khalil Shakir. After a false start penalty created a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo (7-4), Calen Bullock recovered Allen’s pass at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds remaining.
“We had a chance to win at the end,” Allen said. “We did a good job of staying there and our defense saved us several times. We have to find a way, and we didn’t.”
It was difficult for Allen to get anything going on a night when he was sacked a career-high eight times and hit four more times. Allen threw for 253 yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after scoring six touchdowns in a win over Tampa Bay last week.
“When they hit our quarterback 12 times, I don’t like it,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “I don’t like that stat at all. It’s just not a healthy way to play and it’s not a good way to keep our quarterback healthy for the rest of the season. We need to play better.”
Allen took some time to get back up after a sack in the first half. He said he was fine and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after landing awkwardly on it. He was asked if he was hit multiple times on Thursday. “It’s not fun,” he said. “I ran into a few myself. I need to be better at throwing the ball. Too often I was going backwards.”
Allen lost 70 yards on eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half sacks to lead the Texans. His second came when he nearly brought down Allen near the line of scrimmage, but he moved away and Anderson got up and chased him across the field only to drop him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt early in the third.
The Bills played for a second straight game without wide receiver Keon Coleman after he was healthy again after being late to a team meeting before their last game. He was previously on the bench for the first series of a loss to New England in Week 5 after also being late for a meeting.
“Nothing new. We’re just taking things one day at a time,” McDermott said. “I thought he had a better week, but we’re taking it one day at a time. It’s not that we didn’t think about it, but we went with the guys that give us the best chance.”
Shakir led the Bills with eight receptions for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.
Allen was disappointed that the Bills couldn’t play down the stretch. “At the end of the day, we have to execute, and we didn’t do a good job tonight,” he said. “Whatever the situation and circumstances, we have to find a way, and we haven’t.”
