Josh Allen took eight sacks at the hands of the Houston Texans before pulling off a hook and lateral trick play to try and keep the Buffalo Bills' hopes alive on Thursday night
05:39 ET, 21 Nov 2025
The Bills pulled off a savvy hook and lateral on a crucial fourth down in the fourth quarter
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The Bills pulled off a savvy hook and lateral on a crucial fourth down in the fourth quarter(Image: X)
The Buffalo Bills pulled off an unbelievable hook and lateral trick play moments after franchise quarterback Josh Allen ate a career-high eighth sack at the hands of the Houston Texans.
The Bills headed into Thursday Night Football as favorites, with the Texans still missing their star player, quarterback C.J. Stroud. That's despite the Texans building up some steam ahead of their meeting with Allen's Bills, having won their last two consecutive games and recorded a 5-5 record, largely thanks to their defense.
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Davis Mills started at quarterback for the Texans, and, like in previous weeks, the defense was expected to execute a close enough game for the backup to get some points on the board. The Texans headed in at halftime 20-16 up thanks to two touchdowns by Christian Kirk and Jayden Higgins, as well as two field goals by kicker Ka'imi Fairbairn.
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The Texans stopped the leaking in the second half, keeping the Bills scoreless in the third while Fairbairn extended Houston's lead to 23-16. A crucial fourth quarter saw the Bills add three points via a field goal, but again, defending NFL MVP Allen found himself swarmed by a formidable Texans defense.
Allen ate his eighth sack in the fourth quarter thanks to Mario Edwards Jr., posting an unwanted career high for the Bills' superstar. However, moments later, Allen's offense moved the chains for the Bills, pulling off an unbelievable hook and lateral trick play on a crucial 4th and 27.
Allen threw to Josh Palmer, who then passed the ball off to Khalil Shakir, who managed to secure a first down. Only a touchdown would win the game for the Bills, who trailed by four points — but their chance went up in smoke as Allen threw his second interception of the night to Calen Bullock.
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After the game, Bills head coach Sean McDermott said the team needs to protect its quarterback better. "They had 12 hits on Josh, eight sacks. That's not a healthy formula right there," McDermott said. "It's not a healthy way to play or a healthy way to keep our quarterback healthy through the remainder of the season."
McDermott also called on his team to do a better job of avoiding the obvious passing situations that allow defenses to get at Allen.
"That's where the hits come, second down and long turns into third down and long, and that's the unhealthy formula I'm talking about, and Josh takes too many hits. So we've got to figure that piece out," McDermott said.
Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen was sacked eight times
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Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen was sacked eight times(Image: Getty)
Allen was visibly upset during the game and on the sidelines. He explained his reaction to costly Bills errors on crucial fourth downs.
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“Just frustration on my part,” Allen said. “In a situation like that we probably should have just banged a timeout. We got the play in late. Didn’t give ourselves a chance there.”
The Bills are now 7-4 in 2025, faltering amid the struggles of their longtime AFC rivals, the Kansas City Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens.