Little got to Josh Allen in a disappointing game Thursday night against Houston Texans.
And yet he was close to wishing Buffalo Bills to victory before a last-minute interception sealed their fate with a 23–19 defeat.
Allen picked up consecutive sacks on the Bills' final possession, setting up a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (7-4) gained 44 yards on a short pass from Allen to Josh Palmer, who threw an onside kick to Khalil Shakir.
After a false start penalty put Buffalo on fourth-and-6 (7-4), Kalen Bullock picked off Allen's pass at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds left.
“We had a chance to win at the end,” Allen said. “We handled the situation well and our defense bailed us out a couple of times. We needed to find a way out, but we didn't.”
Allen had a hard time getting anything done on a night when he was sacked a career-high eight times and hit four more times. Allen threw for 253 yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after throwing for six touchdowns in a win over Tampa Bay last week.
“When they hit our quarterback 12 times, I don't like it,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “I don't like those stats at all. It's just not a healthy way to play and it's not the best way to keep our quarterback healthy for the rest of the season. We need to do better.”
Allen was slow to get up after a sack in the first half. He said he was fine and that his left shoulder was “a little numb” after he landed awkwardly on it. He was asked about how many times he was hit on Thursday.
“This is no fun,” he said. “I've run into a couple myself. I need to get the ball out better. I've fallen back too many times.”
Allen lost 70 yards on eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half sacks to lead the Texans. His second hit came when he nearly knocked Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he dodged and Anderson stood up and chased him down the field to take him down for an 18-yard loss and force a punt early in the third.
The Bills played their second straight game without receiver Keon Coleman after he was returned to healthy condition after being late to a team meeting before their last game. He was previously benched in the series opener loss to New England in Week 5 after also showing up late for a meeting.
“Nothing new. We're just taking it one day at a time,” McDermott said. “I thought he had his best week, but we're taking it one day at a time. It's not that we didn't think about it, but we picked the guys that give us the best chance.”
Shakir led the Bills with eight receptions for 110 yards, while James Cook rushed for 116 yards and a touchdown.
Allen was disappointed that the Bills were unable to find success down the stretch.
“Ultimately we have to act and we failed in that task tonight,” he said. “Whatever the situation and whatever the circumstances, we found a way out, we didn’t.”
