🔗 Share this article

Very little went right for the Bills' quarterback in a disappointing contest on Thursday evening versus the Texans.

Yet he nearly managed to willing the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an interception in the final minute ended their hopes in a close loss.

Allen took consecutive sacks on the Bills’ final possession, leading to a long fourth down, but Buffalo (with seven wins) gained significant yardage on a quick throw from Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.

After a false-start penalty created a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, a Texans defender intercepted the quarterback's throw at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds remaining.

We possessed a chance to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen said. “Our team performed 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 get anything going on a evening he was brought down a personal-worst on eight occasions and hit four other times. Allen threw for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after accounting for six touchdowns in a victory over Tampa Bay last week.

“When they pressure our quarterback 12 times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach Sean McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It is not a safe way to play and it isn't a good way to keep our quarterback in good shape for the rest of the season. We need to play better.”

Allen was slow to get up after a tackle in the first half. He said he was OK and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was asked about being hit so many times during the game.

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

Allen surrendered 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 tackles for loss to top the Houston defense. His second one occurred when he almost took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and Anderson rose and pursued him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt in the third quarter.

Buffalo competed for a second straight game without receiver Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their last game. He was earlier benched for the opening drive of a defeat to the Patriots in Week 5 after additionally being late for a team session.

“Nothing new. We’re just approaching 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 was ignored, but we went with the guys that give us the best chance.”

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

Allen was frustrated that the Bills were unable to execute in crucial moments.

“Ultimately, we’ve got perform, and we failed to succeed of that this evening,” he concluded. “Whatever scenario and whatever condition, we need to find a way, and we didn’t.”