🔗 Share this article

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

And still he came close to driving the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an late pick in the final minute ended their hopes in a 23-19 loss.

The quarterback endured back-to-back tackles for loss on the team's final possession, leading to a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (with seven wins) picked up significant yardage on a quick throw from Allen to a receiver, who flipped a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.

After a false-start penalty created a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, Calen Bullock intercepted Allen’s pass at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds left.

“We had a chance to win it there at the end,” Allen said. “We did a good job of hanging tough and our defensive unit saved us a couple of times. We must figure it out, and we didn’t.”

Proved tough for Allen to get anything going 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 two interceptions and zero scores after accounting for 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 compete and it’s not a smart way to keep our quarterback in good shape for the remaining games. We’ve got to play better.”

Allen was slow to rise after a sack in the opening two quarters. He said he was fine and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was asked about being contacted so many times during the game.

“It’s not fun,” he said. “I encountered a couple personally. I’ve got to be better at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I found myself going backwards.”

The Bills' QB surrendered 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Anderson had two and a half tackles for loss to top the Texans. His second one occurred when he almost sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and Anderson rose and pursued him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt in the third quarter.

Buffalo competed for a second straight game absent receiver Keon Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was late to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was earlier held out for the first series of a defeat to the Patriots in the fifth week after additionally being delayed for a meeting.

No change. We’re just taking it one day at a time,” the coach said. “I thought he had a improved week, but we are taking it one day at a time. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the guys that give us the best chance.”

Khalil Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.

The quarterback was disappointed that the Bills were unable to make plays in crucial moments.

In the end, we’ve got perform, and we didn’t do a good job of that this evening,” he concluded. “No matter the scenario and whatever circumstance, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”