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

And still he nearly managed to willing the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an late pick in the final minute ended their hopes in a close loss.

Allen endured consecutive tackles for loss on the Bills’ last drive, leading to a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (7-4) picked up 44 yards on a quick throw from Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a lateral to another teammate.

Following a false-start penalty led to a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, Calen Bullock picked off Allen’s throw at the Houston 9 with under half a minute left.

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

It was difficult for Allen to get anything going on a night he was sacked a career-high eight times and hit four other times. The QB passed for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after accounting for six TDs in a win over the Buccaneers the previous week.

Whenever they pressure our quarterback 12 times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It’s just not a healthy way to compete and it isn't a smart way to preserve our quarterback in good shape for the remaining games. We’ve got to improve our performance.”

Josh Allen was slow to get up after a sack in the first half. He indicated he was fine and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being contacted so frequently on Thursday.

It's unpleasant,” he said. “I encountered a couple myself. I need to be more effective at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I was going backwards.”

Allen lost 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Anderson had 2.5 tackles for loss to lead the Texans. Another sack came when he almost took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and Anderson got up and pursued him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt early in the third.

The Bills played for a second straight game absent wideout Keon Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was late to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was previously benched for the opening drive of a loss to the Patriots in Week 5 after additionally being late for a meeting.

No change. We are approaching it day by day,” McDermott said. “I thought he had a improved week, but we are handling it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the players that provide the best chance.”

Khalil Shakir led the Bills with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.

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

“Ultimately, we must perform, and we failed to succeed of that tonight,” he said. “Whatever situation and any circumstance, we need to find a way, and we didn’t.”