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Little went right for the Bills' quarterback in a disappointing contest on Thursday evening against the Texans.

Yet he nearly managed to willing the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an interception in the final minute ended their hopes in a 23-19 defeat.

Allen took consecutive tackles for loss on the team's final possession, leading to a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (7-4) picked up significant yardage on a quick throw from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a lateral to Khalil Shakir.

Following a false-start penalty led to a fourth down situation for the Bills, a Texans defender intercepted Allen’s pass at the 9-yard line with under half a minute left.

We possessed a chance to come out on top there at the end,” Josh Allen said. “We did a solid job of hanging tough and our defense saved us a few instances. We must figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”

Proved difficult for Allen to establish rhythm on a evening he was sacked a personal-worst eight times and pressured four additional instances. The QB threw for 253 yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after producing six TDs in a victory over Tampa Bay the previous week.

Whenever they hit our quarterback 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It’s just not a healthy way to play and it’s not a good way to preserve our quarterback in good shape for the remaining games. We need to play better.”

Allen was sluggish to rise after a sack in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was fine and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being hit so many times on Thursday.

It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I encountered a couple personally. I need to be better at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I was going backwards.”

Allen surrendered 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 tackles for loss to lead the Texans. Another sack occurred when he nearly sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and Anderson got up and chased him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt in the third quarter.

The Bills played for a second consecutive matchup without receiver Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch 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 the Patriots in the fifth week after also being delayed for a team session.

“Nothing new. We are approaching 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 was ignored, but we went with the players that give us the best chance.”

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

Allen was frustrated that the Bills couldn’t make plays in crucial moments.

In the end, we’ve got execute, and we failed to do a good job of that this evening,” he concluded. “Whatever scenario and whatever circumstance, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”