🔗 Share this article

Little clicked for Josh Allen in a disappointing game on Thursday evening against the Texans.

Yet he nearly managed to driving the Bills to a win before an late pick 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 fourth-and-27, but the Bills (with seven wins) picked up 44 yards on a short pass from Allen to a receiver, who tossed a backward pass to another teammate.

After a false-start penalty led to a fourth down situation for the Bills, Calen Bullock picked off the quarterback's throw at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds left.

“We had a chance to win it there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen said. “Our team performed a solid job of hanging tough and our defense bailed us out a few instances. We must figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”

It was difficult for the signal-caller to get anything going on a evening he was sacked a career-high eight times and pressured four additional instances. The QB passed for 253 yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after accounting for six TDs in a victory over Tampa Bay last week.

“When they hit our quarterback a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach McDermott commented. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It is not a safe way to compete and it’s not a good way to preserve our field general in good shape for the rest of the season. We need to play better.”

Josh Allen was sluggish to get up after a sack in the opening two quarters. He said he was fine and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was asked about being contacted so frequently during the game.

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

The Bills' QB surrendered 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 tackles for loss to top the Texans. Another sack came when he almost sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and Anderson rose and pursued him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt early in the third.

The Bills competed for a second straight game without receiver Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was late to a squad gathering before their last game. He was earlier benched for the opening drive of a loss to New England in the fifth week after also being late for a meeting.

No change. We are approaching it one day at a time,” McDermott said. “I felt he had a better week, but we are handling it step by step. It was not that it was ignored, but we opted for the guys that give us the best chance.”

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

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

“Ultimately, we must perform, and we failed to succeed of that tonight,” he said. “No matter the scenario and any circumstance, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”