Josh Allen Sacked 8 Occasions as Final-Minute Pickoff Dooms Buffalo in Loss to Houston

Little went right for the Bills' quarterback in a tough contest on Thursday evening against the Texans.

And still he came close to willing the Buffalo Bills to a win before an late pick in the last moments ended their hopes in a 23-19 loss.

The quarterback endured back-to-back sacks on the team's final possession, resulting in a long fourth down, but Buffalo (7-4) picked up 44 yards on a quick throw from Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a backward pass to another teammate.

Following a pre-snap infraction created a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, Calen Bullock picked off the quarterback's pass at the Houston 9 with under half a minute left.

“We had a chance to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen said. “Our team performed a good job of hanging tough and our defense saved us a few instances. We’ve got find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”

Proved tough for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a night he was brought down a career-high on eight occasions and hit four other times. The QB passed for 253 yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after accounting for six TDs in a win over the Buccaneers last week.

Whenever they hit our QB 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach McDermott said. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It is not a healthy way to compete and it’s not a good way to keep our field general in good shape for the rest of the season. We’ve got to play better.”

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

It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I ran into a couple myself. I’ve got to be better at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I was going backwards.”

Allen lost 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 sacks to top the Texans. His second one occurred when he almost took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and Anderson rose and chased him downfield 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 receiver Keon Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was tardy to a team meeting before their last game. He was previously held out for the first series of a defeat to New England in the fifth week after additionally being delayed for a team session.

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

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

Allen was disappointed that the team couldn’t make plays in crucial moments.

In the end, we must perform, and we failed to succeed of that this evening,” he said. “No matter the scenario and whatever condition, we need to find a way, and we didn’t.”