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

Yet he nearly managed to willing the Bills to a win before an late pick in the final minute ended their hopes in a close loss.

The quarterback took consecutive tackles for loss on the Bills’ final possession, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (7-4) picked up significant yardage on a quick throw from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a lateral to Khalil Shakir.

Following a pre-snap infraction created a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, Calen Bullock picked off Allen’s pass at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds remaining.

“We had a chance to win it there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen stated. “Our team performed a solid job of hanging tough and our defense saved us a couple of times. We’ve got figure it out, and we didn’t.”

Proved difficult for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a evening he was sacked a personal-worst eight times and hit four additional instances. Allen passed for 253 yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after accounting for six TDs in a win over the Buccaneers last week.

“When they pressure our QB 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It is not a healthy way to compete and it’s not a good way to preserve our quarterback healthy for the rest of the season. We’ve got to improve our performance.”

Allen was sluggish to get up after a sack in the first half. He said he was OK and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being contacted so frequently during the game.

“It’s not fun,” he said. “I encountered a few myself. I’ve got to be more effective at disposing of the football. Too many times, I was losing ground.”

The Bills' QB lost 70 yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half tackles for loss to top the Texans. His second one occurred when he almost sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and the defender rose and chased him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt in the third quarter.

The Bills competed for a second straight game absent receiver Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their last game. He was previously benched for the opening drive of a loss to New England in the fifth week after also being delayed for a team session.

“Nothing new. We’re just taking it one day at a time,” McDermott noted. “I thought he had a improved week, but we are handling it one day at a time. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the players that provide the best chance.”

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

Allen was frustrated that the Bills were unable to execute down the stretch.

“Ultimately, we’ve got execute, and we didn’t succeed of that tonight,” he concluded. “Whatever scenario and any condition, we need to discover a solution, and we came up short.”