Josh Allen breaks unwanted record in Bills meltdown

It was about as rough a night for Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills as possible as they fell 23-19 to the Houston Texans, with the quarterback enduring the worst single-game beating of his career in a true meltdown from the man who is normally their shining light.

At the opening whistle, Buffalo looked sharp, with a dominant first drive of 81 yards topped off with a stunning 45-yard run from James Cook which had the team humming.

And that was as good as it got.

“It’s not a healthy way to keep our quarterback healthy”

By the end of the night, Allen was sacked eight times, a career high, and hit another four times, most of them coming against relatively unhurried pressure. Houston blitzed just seven times on his 45 drop-backs and yet Allen was sacked six times when facing four or fewer rushers.

“They wanted it today,” Allen admitted. “We had a chance to win there at the end and got to find a way.”

To make things worse, Allen was examined by athletic trainers after he admitted his shoulder “went a little numb on me” after falling on it. “We’re good,” he said afterwards, cooling tensions for fans.

“Well, when they hit the quarterback 12 times, I don’t like that,” coach Sean McDermott said in the angry aftermath. “I don’t like that stat at all. And it’s not a healthy way to play or a healthy way to keep our quarterback healthy through the remainder of the season. So, that’s just not a good formula there.”

On top of their Houston nightmare, Buffalo have now committed three turnovers in each of their last three games, something they haven’t done since 2006. Their first-down performance was also abysmal, averaging just 2.3 yards per play, their second-worst mark in an Allen era game.

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With this loss the Bills drop to 7-4 and find themselves two games behind in the AFC East. Their star player’s fitness is under question, and the smoke is still pouring out of the manager’s ears. The Bills are in bother.

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