🔗 Share this article

Very little went right for Josh Allen in a frustrating contest Thursday night against the Texans.

And still he nearly managed to driving the Bills to a victory before an interception in the final minute sealed their fate in a 23-19 loss.

Allen endured consecutive tackles for loss on the Bills’ last drive, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (7-4) picked up 44 yards on a quick throw from Josh Allen to a receiver, who flipped a lateral to Khalil Shakir.

Following a pre-snap infraction created a fourth down situation for Buffalo, Calen Bullock picked off the quarterback's throw at the 9-yard line with under half a minute remaining.

“We had a chance to win it there at the end,” Josh Allen stated. “Our team performed a solid job of staying in it and our defensive unit saved us a few instances. We’ve got figure it out, and we didn’t.”

It was difficult for the signal-caller to get anything going on a evening he was brought down a career-high on eight occasions and pressured four additional instances. The QB threw for 253 yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after producing six TDs in a victory over Tampa Bay the previous week.

“When they hit our QB 12 times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach McDermott commented. “I don’t like that stat at all. It’s just not a safe way to play and it’s not a good way to keep our quarterback healthy for the rest of the season. We’ve got to play better.”

Josh Allen was slow to get up after a sack in the first half. He indicated he was fine and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being hit so many times during the game.

“It’s not fun,” he said. “I ran into a couple myself. I’ve got to be more effective at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I was going backwards.”

The Bills' QB surrendered 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Anderson had 2.5 sacks to lead the Texans. Another sack came when he almost took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and Anderson got up and chased him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt early in the third.

Buffalo played for a second straight game without receiver Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was late to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was earlier benched for the opening drive of a loss to the Patriots in the fifth week after also being late for a team session.

No change. We’re just taking it one day at a time,” McDermott said. “I felt he had a improved week, but we are handling it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the guys that give us the best chance.”

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

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

“Ultimately, we must perform, and we failed to do a good job of that this evening,” he said. “Whatever situation and any circumstance, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”