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

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

The quarterback endured back-to-back tackles for loss on the team's final possession, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (with seven wins) gained 44 yards on a short pass from Josh Allen to a receiver, who tossed a lateral to another teammate.

After a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth down situation for Buffalo, Calen Bullock intercepted Allen’s pass at the Houston 9 with under half a minute left.

We possessed a chance to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen stated. “We did a good job of staying in it and our defensive unit saved us a couple of times. We must figure it out, and we didn’t.”

It was difficult for the signal-caller to get anything going on a evening he was brought down a career-high eight times and hit four other times. Allen passed for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after accounting for six touchdowns in a win over the Buccaneers the previous week.

“When they hit our quarterback a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach Sean McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It is not a healthy way to play and it isn't a smart way to preserve our field general in good shape for the remaining games. We’ve got to play better.”

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

“It’s not fun,” he said. “I encountered a couple personally. I’ve got to be better at disposing of the football. Too many times, I found myself losing ground.”

Allen lost 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had 2.5 sacks to top the Texans. Another sack occurred when he nearly sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and Anderson rose and pursued him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt in the third quarter.

The Bills competed for a second straight game without wideout Keon Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was late to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was earlier held out for the opening drive of a loss to the Patriots in the fifth week after also being late for a team session.

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

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

Allen was frustrated that the Bills couldn’t execute down the stretch.

In the end, we’ve got perform, and we failed to succeed of that this evening,” he said. “No matter the scenario and any condition, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”