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

And still he nearly managed to willing the Buffalo Bills to a win before an late pick in the last moments ended their hopes in a 23-19 loss.

Allen endured consecutive sacks on the team's final possession, leading to a long fourth down, but the Bills (7-4) picked up 44 yards on a quick throw from Josh Allen to a receiver, who tossed a lateral to another teammate.

After a false-start penalty led to a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, Calen Bullock intercepted Allen’s throw at the 9-yard line with under half a minute remaining.

“We had a chance to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Allen stated. “Our team performed a solid job of hanging tough and our defense bailed us out a few instances. We’ve got find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”

Proved difficult for Allen to establish rhythm on a night he was sacked a personal-worst eight times and pressured four additional instances. Allen passed for 253 yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after producing six touchdowns in a win over Tampa Bay the previous week.

Whenever they hit our QB a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott commented. “I don’t like that stat at all. It is not a safe way to compete and it isn't a good way to keep our field general in good shape for the rest of the season. We need to play better.”

Josh Allen was sluggish to get up after a tackle in the first half. He indicated he was OK and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being hit so frequently on Thursday.

It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I encountered a few personally. I’ve got to be more effective at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I found myself losing ground.”

The Bills' QB lost 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Anderson had two and a half sacks to lead the Houston defense. Another sack came when he nearly took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and Anderson rose and chased him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt early in the third.

Buffalo competed for a second straight game without wideout Keon Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was earlier held out for the opening drive of a loss to the Patriots in Week 5 after additionally being late for a team session.

“Nothing new. We’re just taking it one day at a time,” the coach noted. “I thought he had a better week, but we are handling it one day at a time. It was not that it was ignored, but we opted for the guys that provide the optimal opportunity.”

Shakir topped the Bills with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.

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

“Ultimately, we must perform, and we didn’t succeed of that tonight,” he concluded. “No matter the scenario and any circumstance, we need to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”