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Little went well for the Bills' quarterback in a disappointing contest Thursday night versus the Houston Texans.

And still he came close to willing the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an late pick in the final minute sealed their fate in a close loss.

Allen endured consecutive sacks on the team's last drive, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (7-4) picked up 44 yards on a quick throw from Allen to a receiver, who flipped a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.

Following a pre-snap infraction created a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, a Texans defender intercepted Allen’s throw at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds left.

“We had a chance to come out on top there at the end,” Josh Allen said. “Our team performed a good job of staying in it and our defensive unit saved us a few instances. We must find a way, and we didn’t.”

Proved difficult for Allen to establish rhythm on a evening he was brought down a personal-worst on eight occasions and hit four other times. Allen threw for 253 yards with two interceptions and zero scores after producing six touchdowns in a win over the Buccaneers the previous week.

“When they hit our quarterback a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott commented. “I don’t like that stat at all. It is not a healthy way to play and it isn't a good way to keep our field general healthy for the remaining games. We’ve got to improve our performance.”

Josh Allen was slow to rise after a tackle in the first half. He indicated he was fine and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being contacted so many times during the game.

It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I encountered a few myself. I’ve got to be better at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I found myself going backwards.”

Allen surrendered 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Anderson had two and a half tackles for loss to lead the Texans. Another sack occurred when he nearly sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and Anderson rose and pursued him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt early in the third.

The Bills competed for a second consecutive matchup without wideout Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a team meeting before their last game. He was earlier held out for the opening drive of a defeat to the Patriots in Week 5 after also being late for a team session.

“Nothing new. We are approaching it one day at a time,” the coach said. “I thought he had a better week, but we’re handling it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the players that provide the best chance.”

Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.

Allen was disappointed that the team couldn’t make plays in crucial moments.

In the end, we must perform, and we failed to do a good job of that tonight,” he concluded. “No matter the situation and whatever condition, we need to find a way, and we came up short.”