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Very little clicked for Josh Allen in a frustrating game Thursday night versus the Houston Texans.

And still 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 loss.

Allen took consecutive sacks on the team's last drive, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (with seven wins) picked up 44 yards on a short pass from Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a lateral to another teammate.

Following a false-start penalty led to a fourth down situation for Buffalo, a Texans defender picked off the quarterback's throw at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds left.

We possessed a chance to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Allen said. “We did a good job of hanging tough and our defensive unit saved us a couple of times. We must find a way, and we didn’t.”

It was difficult for the signal-caller to get anything going on a evening he was brought down a personal-worst eight times and hit four additional instances. Allen passed for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and zero scores after producing six TDs in a win over Tampa Bay the previous week.

“When they hit our quarterback 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach Sean McDermott commented. “I don’t like that stat at all. It’s just not a safe way to play and it isn't a good way to keep our quarterback in good shape for the remaining games. We need to play better.”

Josh Allen was slow to get up after a sack in the first half. He said 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 contacted so many times on Thursday.

“It’s not fun,” he said. “I encountered a couple myself. I’ve got to be more effective at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I was going backwards.”

The Bills' QB lost 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had two and a half sacks to top the Houston defense. Another sack occurred when he nearly 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 deficit to force a punt in the third quarter.

The Bills competed for a second consecutive matchup without receiver Keon Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a squad gathering 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,” the coach said. “I felt he had a improved week, but we are handling it step by step. It was not that it was ignored, but we went with the players that provide the optimal opportunity.”

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

The quarterback was frustrated that the Bills were unable to execute in crucial moments.

In the end, we must perform, and we failed to succeed of that tonight,” he said. “Whatever situation and whatever circumstance, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we came up short.”