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Very little clicked for Josh Allen in a tough contest on Thursday evening against the Houston Texans.

Yet he came close to willing the Buffalo Bills to a win before an late pick in the final minute ended their hopes in a close loss.

Allen endured back-to-back tackles for loss on the team's last drive, resulting in a long fourth down, but Buffalo (7-4) gained 44 yards on a quick throw from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a lateral to Khalil Shakir.

After a pre-snap infraction created a fourth down situation for the Bills, Calen Bullock intercepted the quarterback's throw at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds left.

“We had a opportunity to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen stated. “We did a solid job of staying in it and our defensive unit saved us a few instances. We’ve got figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”

Proved difficult for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a night he was sacked a personal-worst eight times and hit four other times. Allen threw for 253 yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after accounting for six touchdowns in a win over the Buccaneers the previous week.

Whenever they hit our QB a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach McDermott said. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It’s just not a healthy way to play and it isn't a good way to keep our quarterback in good shape for the rest of the season. We’ve got to play better.”

Allen was slow to rise after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He said he was OK and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being hit so many times during the game.

It's unpleasant,” he said. “I encountered a few personally. I’ve got to be more effective at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I was going backwards.”

Allen lost 70 yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 sacks to lead the Houston defense. Another sack came when he almost took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and the defender rose and chased him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt early in the third.

Buffalo competed for a second straight game without wideout Keon Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was late to a squad gathering before their last game. He was previously held out for the opening drive of a defeat to the Patriots in the fifth week after also being delayed for a team session.

No change. We’re just approaching it day by day,” the coach said. “I felt he had a improved week, but we’re handling it step by step. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we opted for the guys that give us the best chance.”

Shakir led the Bills with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.

The quarterback was disappointed that the team were unable to execute down the stretch.

In the end, we must execute, and we failed to succeed of that tonight,” he concluded. “No matter the situation and any circumstance, we need to find a way, and we didn’t.”