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Very little clicked for Josh Allen in a disappointing game on Thursday evening versus the Texans.

And still he nearly managed to willing the Bills to a victory before an interception in the last moments ended their hopes in a 23-19 loss.

The quarterback endured consecutive tackles for loss on the Bills’ final possession, leading to a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (7-4) picked up significant yardage on a short pass from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.

After a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, Calen Bullock picked off the quarterback's throw at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds left.

We possessed a chance to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Allen said. “We did a solid job of staying in it and our defensive unit bailed us out a couple of times. We must find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”

Proved difficult for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a night he was sacked a career-high eight times and pressured four additional instances. Allen passed for 253 yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after producing six touchdowns in a victory over Tampa Bay last week.

“When they hit our QB 12 times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach Sean McDermott commented. “I don’t like that stat at all. It is not a safe way to compete and it isn't a good way to keep our quarterback healthy for the rest of the season. We need to improve our performance.”

Allen was sluggish to rise after a sack in the first half. He said he was fine and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being hit so many times during the game.

It's unpleasant,” he said. “I encountered a few personally. I need to be more effective at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I was losing ground.”

Allen lost 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half sacks to lead the Texans. Another sack came when he nearly took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and Anderson got up and chased him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt in the third quarter.

Buffalo competed for a second consecutive matchup without receiver Keon Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a team meeting before their last game. He was previously benched for the first series of a defeat to New England in the fifth week after additionally being late for a team session.

“Nothing new. We are approaching it one day at a time,” the coach said. “I thought he had a better week, but we’re taking it one day at a time. It was not that it was ignored, but we opted for the players that provide the best chance.”

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

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

In the end, we must perform, and we failed to succeed of that this evening,” he concluded. “No matter the situation and any circumstance, we need to find a way, and we came up short.”