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Little went right for Josh Allen in a tough game on Thursday evening versus the Houston Texans.

Yet he came close to willing the Bills to a win before an interception in the last moments sealed their fate in a close defeat.

The quarterback took consecutive tackles for loss on the team's final possession, leading to a long fourth down, but Buffalo (7-4) gained significant yardage on a quick throw from Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.

Following a false-start penalty created a fourth down situation for Buffalo, Calen Bullock picked off Allen’s pass at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds remaining.

We possessed a chance to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Allen said. “We did a solid job of staying in it and our defensive unit bailed us out a couple of times. We must find a way, and we didn’t.”

It was difficult for Allen to establish rhythm on a evening he was brought down a personal-worst on eight occasions and hit four other times. The QB threw for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after producing six TDs in a victory over Tampa Bay the previous week.

Whenever they pressure our QB a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It’s just not a healthy way to compete and it’s not a good way to keep our quarterback healthy for the rest of the season. We need to play better.”

Josh Allen was slow to rise after a sack in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was OK and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being hit so frequently on Thursday.

“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I encountered a few personally. I’ve got to be more effective at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I found myself losing ground.”

Allen surrendered 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 sacks to top the Texans. His second one came when he almost took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and Anderson got up and pursued him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt in the third quarter.

Buffalo played for a second straight game without wideout Keon Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was tardy to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was earlier held out for the first series of a loss to New England in Week 5 after also being late for a meeting.

No change. We’re just taking it one day at a time,” McDermott said. “I thought he had a improved week, but we are handling it step by step. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the players that give us the best chance.”

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

The quarterback was frustrated that the team were unable to make plays in crucial moments.

“Ultimately, we must execute, and we failed to succeed of that this evening,” he said. “No matter the scenario and whatever condition, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we came up short.”