🔗 Share this article

Little clicked for Josh Allen in a disappointing game Thursday night versus the Houston Texans.

And still he came close to driving the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an late pick in the final minute sealed their fate in a close loss.

The quarterback took back-to-back tackles for loss on the Bills’ final possession, leading to a long fourth down, but the Bills (7-4) gained significant yardage on a quick throw from Josh Allen to a receiver, who tossed a lateral to Khalil Shakir.

Following a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth down situation for the Bills, Calen Bullock picked off Allen’s pass at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds left.

“We had a chance to win it there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen stated. “We did a solid job of hanging tough and our defensive unit saved us a couple of times. We’ve got figure it out, and we didn’t.”

Proved tough for Allen to establish rhythm on a evening he was sacked a personal-worst eight times and pressured four other times. The QB passed for 253 yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after accounting for six touchdowns in a victory over the Buccaneers last week.

“When they hit our QB 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “I don’t like that stat at all. It’s just not a healthy way to compete and it’s not a smart way to keep our quarterback healthy for the rest of the season. We need to improve our performance.”

Allen was slow to rise after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He said he was OK and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being contacted so frequently on Thursday.

It's unpleasant,” he said. “I ran into a few personally. I need to be better at disposing of the football. Too many times, I was losing ground.”

Allen lost 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half tackles for loss to lead the Houston defense. His second one occurred when he nearly took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and the defender rose and pursued him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt early in the third.

The Bills competed for a second consecutive matchup without receiver Keon Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was late to a team meeting before their last game. He was previously held out for the opening drive of a loss to New England in Week 5 after additionally being late for a team session.

No change. We’re just taking it one day at a time,” McDermott noted. “I felt he had a better week, but we’re handling it step by step. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the players that give us the optimal opportunity.”

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

Allen was disappointed that the team were unable to make plays down the stretch.

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