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Little went well for the Bills' quarterback in a frustrating game on Thursday evening versus the Texans.

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

Allen endured consecutive tackles for loss on the team's final possession, leading to a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (with seven wins) gained significant yardage on a quick throw from Josh Allen to a receiver, who tossed a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.

After a false-start penalty led to a fourth down situation for the Bills, a Texans defender intercepted Allen’s throw at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds remaining.

We possessed a opportunity to win it there at the end,” Allen stated. “We did a good job of hanging tough and our defense bailed us out a couple of times. We’ve got figure it out, and we didn’t.”

It was difficult for Allen to establish rhythm on a night he was sacked a career-high on eight occasions and pressured four additional instances. Allen passed for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after accounting for six TDs in a victory over Tampa Bay the previous week.

“When they pressure our QB a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It’s just not a healthy way to play and it’s not a smart way to keep our quarterback healthy for the remaining games. We need to improve our performance.”

Josh Allen was slow to get up after a tackle in the first half. He said he was OK and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being contacted so frequently during the game.

“It’s not fun,” he said. “I encountered a couple personally. I’ve got to be more effective at disposing of the football. Too many times, I was going backwards.”

The Bills' QB lost 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half sacks to lead the Houston defense. Another sack came when he almost sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and Anderson rose and chased him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt in the third quarter.

The Bills played for a second consecutive matchup absent wideout Keon Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was late to a squad gathering before their last game. He was earlier held out for the opening drive of a loss to the Patriots in Week 5 after also being delayed for a meeting.

“Nothing new. We’re just approaching it day by day,” the coach said. “I thought he had a improved week, but we’re taking it one day at a time. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the players that give us the optimal opportunity.”

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

Allen was disappointed that the team couldn’t make plays down the stretch.

In the end, we must perform, and we failed to do a good job of that this evening,” he said. “Whatever situation and any circumstance, we need to discover a solution, and we came up short.”