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Little went well for the Bills' quarterback in a frustrating contest Thursday night against the Houston Texans.

And still he nearly managed to driving the Bills to a victory before an late pick in the last moments ended their hopes in a close defeat.

The quarterback endured back-to-back sacks on the team's last drive, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (with seven wins) picked up significant yardage on a quick throw from Allen to a receiver, who flipped a lateral to another teammate.

After a pre-snap infraction created a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, a Texans defender intercepted the quarterback's throw at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds remaining.

“We had a chance to come out on top there at the end,” Josh Allen stated. “Our team performed a solid job of hanging tough and our defensive unit saved us a couple of times. We’ve got find a way, and we didn’t.”

Proved tough for Allen to establish rhythm on a evening he was sacked a career-high on eight occasions and hit four additional instances. The QB threw for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after producing six touchdowns in a win over the Buccaneers last week.

Whenever they hit our QB a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott said. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It is not a safe way to compete and it isn't a smart way to preserve our quarterback in good shape for the rest of the season. We’ve got to improve our performance.”

Josh Allen was slow to rise after a sack in the first half. He indicated he was OK and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being hit so many times on Thursday.

“It’s not fun,” he said. “I encountered a few personally. I’ve got to be more effective at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I found myself losing ground.”

Allen lost 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Anderson had 2.5 tackles for loss to top the Texans. His second one occurred when he almost took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and Anderson rose 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 consecutive matchup absent wideout Keon Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was previously benched for the first series of a loss to New England in the fifth week after also being late for a team session.

No change. We are taking it one day at a time,” the coach said. “I felt he had a better week, but we’re taking it one day at a time. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the guys that give us the optimal opportunity.”

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

The quarterback was frustrated that the Bills couldn’t execute in crucial moments.

“Ultimately, we’ve got perform, and we didn’t do a good job of that tonight,” he said. “Whatever situation and whatever circumstance, we need to find a way, and we came up short.”