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Very little went right for the Bills' quarterback in a disappointing game on Thursday evening against the Houston Texans.

Yet he nearly managed to driving the Bills to a victory before an late pick in the final minute sealed their fate in a close defeat.

The quarterback endured back-to-back sacks on the Bills’ last drive, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (7-4) gained significant yardage on a short pass from Allen to a receiver, who flipped a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.

After a pre-snap infraction created a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, Calen Bullock intercepted the quarterback's pass at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds left.

“We had a chance to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Allen stated. “Our team performed a solid job of staying in it and our defense bailed us out a few instances. We must figure it out, and we didn’t.”

Proved tough for Allen to establish rhythm on a evening he was sacked a personal-worst eight times and pressured four additional instances. Allen passed for 253 yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after producing six touchdowns in a win over the Buccaneers last week.

Whenever they pressure our quarterback 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It is not a safe 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 rise after a sack in the first half. He said he was fine and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was asked about being contacted so frequently during the game.

It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I encountered a couple myself. I’ve got to be more effective at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I was losing ground.”

Allen lost 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had 2.5 tackles for loss to lead the Texans. His second one occurred when he almost took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and the defender got up and chased him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt in the third quarter.

Buffalo competed for a second consecutive matchup absent receiver Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their last game. He was earlier held out for the first series of a loss to the Patriots in the fifth week after additionally being delayed for a meeting.

No change. We’re just taking it day by day,” the coach noted. “I felt he had a better week, but we are taking it step by step. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the players that give us the best chance.”

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

Allen was disappointed that the Bills were unable to make plays in crucial moments.

“Ultimately, we must execute, and we didn’t do a good job of that this evening,” he said. “No matter the situation and any circumstance, we need to discover a solution, and we came up short.”