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

Yet he came close to willing the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an interception in the final minute ended their hopes in a close loss.

The quarterback endured back-to-back tackles for loss on the team's final possession, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (with seven wins) gained significant yardage on a quick throw from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a lateral to another teammate.

After a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth down situation for the Bills, Calen Bullock picked off the quarterback's throw at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds remaining.

“We had a opportunity to win it there at the end,” Allen said. “Our team performed a solid job of staying in it and our defensive unit saved us a couple of times. We must figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”

It was difficult for Allen to get anything going on a evening he was brought down a career-high eight times and pressured four additional instances. The QB passed for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and zero scores after producing six touchdowns in a win over Tampa Bay the previous week.

“When they pressure our QB a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott commented. “I don’t like that stat at all. It is not a safe way to play and it’s not a smart way to preserve our field general in good shape for the rest of the season. We need to play better.”

Allen was slow to get up after a sack in the first half. He indicated he was fine and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being contacted so many times during the game.

“It’s not fun,” he said. “I encountered a couple personally. I need 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. Anderson had two and a half sacks to top the Texans. His second one occurred when he nearly sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and the defender got up and chased him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt in the third quarter.

The Bills competed for a second straight game absent wideout Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was tardy to a team meeting before their last game. He was earlier held out for the opening drive of a loss to the Patriots in Week 5 after also being delayed for a meeting.

“Nothing new. We’re just taking it one day at a time,” McDermott noted. “I thought he had a improved week, but we’re taking it step by step. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the guys that give us the optimal opportunity.”

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

Allen was frustrated that the team couldn’t execute in crucial moments.

“Ultimately, we must execute, and we didn’t succeed of that tonight,” he concluded. “Whatever situation and any condition, we need to find a way, and we didn’t.”