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Very little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a frustrating contest Thursday night against the Texans.

And still he came close to driving the Bills to a win before an late pick in the final minute ended their hopes in a close defeat.

The quarterback endured back-to-back sacks on the Bills’ final possession, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (7-4) gained 44 yards on a quick throw from Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a lateral to another teammate.

Following a pre-snap infraction created a fourth down situation for Buffalo, Calen Bullock intercepted the quarterback's throw at the 9-yard line with under half a minute remaining.

We possessed a opportunity to win it there at the end,” Josh Allen said. “Our team performed a solid job of staying in it and our defense bailed us out a couple of times. We must figure it out, and we didn’t.”

It was tough for Allen to establish rhythm on a night he was brought down a career-high eight times and hit four additional instances. The QB passed for 253 yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after producing six TDs in a win over the Buccaneers last week.

“When they hit our QB 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It is not a healthy way to play and it isn't a good way to preserve our field general healthy for the remaining games. We’ve got to play better.”

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

“It’s not fun,” he said. “I encountered a few personally. I’ve got to be better at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I found myself losing ground.”

Allen surrendered 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 sacks to lead the Houston defense. His second one occurred when he nearly sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and Anderson rose and chased him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt in the third quarter.

The Bills competed for a second consecutive matchup absent wideout Keon Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their last game. He was previously benched for the first series of a defeat to the Patriots in Week 5 after also being delayed for a meeting.

No change. We are approaching it one day at a time,” McDermott noted. “I thought he had a better week, but we’re taking it step by step. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we opted for the players that give us the optimal opportunity.”

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

The quarterback was frustrated that the Bills couldn’t execute in crucial moments.

In the end, we must execute, and we didn’t do a good job of that tonight,” he concluded. “No matter the situation and whatever condition, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”