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Very little went well for the Bills' quarterback in a tough game Thursday night against the Texans.

Yet he nearly managed to willing the Bills to a victory before an interception in the final minute sealed their fate in a close loss.

Allen endured consecutive tackles for loss on the Bills’ last drive, resulting in a long fourth down, but Buffalo (with seven wins) gained significant yardage on a quick throw from Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a backward pass to another teammate.

After a false-start penalty led to a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, a Texans defender picked off the quarterback's pass at the 9-yard line with under half a minute left.

“We had a opportunity to win it there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen stated. “Our team performed a good job of hanging tough and our defensive unit bailed us out a couple of times. We must figure it out, and we didn’t.”

Proved tough for Allen to get anything going on a evening he was sacked a career-high on eight occasions and hit four additional instances. Allen threw for 253 yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after producing six TDs in a win over Tampa Bay last week.

“When they pressure our quarterback a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach Sean McDermott commented. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It’s just not a safe way to compete and it isn't a good way to preserve our quarterback in good shape for the remaining games. We’ve got to improve our performance.”

Allen was sluggish to rise after a tackle in the first half. He indicated he was OK and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being contacted so many times on Thursday.

“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I encountered a couple personally. I need to be better at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I found myself going backwards.”

Allen lost 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had two and a half tackles for loss to lead the Houston defense. Another sack came when he nearly sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and the defender rose and chased him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt in the third quarter.

The Bills played for a second consecutive matchup without receiver Keon Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was earlier benched for the first series of a defeat to New England in the fifth week after also being delayed for a meeting.

“Nothing new. We are approaching it day by day,” the coach noted. “I thought he had a better week, but we are handling it step by step. It was not that it was ignored, but we opted for the players that give us the best chance.”

Shakir led 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 in crucial moments.

“Ultimately, we must perform, and we didn’t do a good job of that this evening,” he concluded. “Whatever scenario and any condition, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”