🔗 Share this article

Very little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a frustrating contest on Thursday evening against the Houston Texans.

Yet he nearly managed to driving the Bills to a victory before an late pick in the last moments ended their hopes in a close loss.

Allen endured back-to-back sacks on the Bills’ final possession, leading to a long fourth down, but the Bills (with seven wins) gained 44 yards on a quick throw from Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a lateral to another teammate.

After a false-start penalty created a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, Calen Bullock intercepted Allen’s throw at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds remaining.

We possessed a chance to win it there at the conclusion,” Allen said. “We did a solid job of hanging tough and our defense bailed us out a couple of times. We must find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”

Proved tough for Allen to get anything going on a night he was sacked a personal-worst eight times and hit four additional instances. Allen threw for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and zero scores after producing six TDs in a victory over the Buccaneers last week.

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

Allen was sluggish to get up 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 in an awkward manner. He was asked about being hit so frequently during the game.

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

Allen surrendered 70 yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 tackles for loss to top the Houston defense. Another sack came when he almost took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and Anderson rose and chased him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt in the third quarter.

Buffalo competed for a second consecutive matchup absent receiver Keon Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was late to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was earlier held out for the opening drive of a defeat to the Patriots in Week 5 after additionally being late for a meeting.

No change. We’re just approaching it one day at a time,” McDermott noted. “I thought he had a improved week, but we are taking it step by step. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the guys that provide the best chance.”

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

Allen was disappointed that the team were unable to make plays in crucial moments.

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