The predator turned into the prey Thursday night in Houston.
Five days after putting up six touchdowns, Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen was mauled by the Houston Texans' apex pass rushers, taking a career-high eight sacks and scoring zero TDs in a 23-19 loss.
Allen shouldered the blame for the rough offensive outing and for taking all those sacks.
"It's not fun. I ran into a couple myself," Allen said, via the team's official transcript. "I have to be better with throwing the ball away, living to see another down, letting us play some situational football and pinning them deep. Too many times, I was going backwards, and I have to be better on that."
Allen certainly could have avoided a couple of the sacks, but others he had no shot at, getting smothered from the jump. The Bills' offensive line repeatedly got bullied by Will Anderson Jr., Danielle Hunter and the rest of the Texans' ferocious front.
"It's a tough night," left tackle Dion Dawkins said. "Probably won't be able to sleep. When I see the kid get hit and he rolls around on the ground, it's a tough day for the boys."
The rolling around came in the second quarter when Allen was hit from behind after escaping the pocket and fell awkwardly to the ground. The QB said he landed on his shoulder and felt numbness. He didn't miss a snap.
"When they hit the quarterback 12 times, I don't like that," coach Sean McDermott said. "I don't like that stat at all. 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 right there."
Allen finished 24-of-34 passing for 253 yards and two touchdowns. It's his second game with zero offensive TDs this season. The Bills are 2-7 in Allen's career as a starter when he doesn't record a passing or rushing touchdown.
Falling to 7-4, Buffalo is now two games back of New England in the AFC East and has fallen to the No. 5 spot in the conference. The Texans, which now hold a potential tiebreaker over the Bills, are in the No. 8 slot at 6-5.
