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

Yet he nearly managed to willing the Bills to a victory before an late pick in the last moments sealed their fate in a 23-19 loss.

Allen endured consecutive sacks on the team's last drive, leading to a long fourth down, but the Bills (with seven wins) 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 led to a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, a Texans defender picked off Allen’s pass at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds remaining.

“We had a chance to win it there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen said. “Our team performed a solid job of hanging tough and our defensive unit bailed us out a few instances. We’ve got figure it out, and we didn’t.”

It was difficult for Allen to get anything going on a night he was brought down a career-high eight times and pressured four additional instances. Allen passed for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and zero scores after accounting for six touchdowns in a victory over the Buccaneers last week.

Whenever they pressure our quarterback 12 times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott said. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It’s just not a healthy way to play and it’s not a smart way to preserve our field general healthy for the remaining games. We need to play better.”

Allen was slow to rise after a sack in the opening two quarters. He said he was fine and that his left 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 unpleasant,” he said. “I encountered a couple myself. I’ve got to be more effective at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I was losing ground.”

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

The Bills played for a second consecutive matchup without wideout Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was tardy to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was previously held out for the opening drive of a defeat to New England in Week 5 after additionally being late for a meeting.

“Nothing new. We’re just taking it day by day,” McDermott noted. “I felt he had a better week, but we’re taking it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we went with the guys that give us the optimal opportunity.”

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

Allen was disappointed that the team couldn’t execute in crucial moments.

“Ultimately, we must perform, and we failed to succeed of that this evening,” he concluded. “Whatever scenario and any circumstance, we need to find a way, and we didn’t.”