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Little went right for Josh Allen in a tough contest on Thursday evening against the Texans.

And still he came close to willing the Bills to a win before an late pick in the final minute ended their hopes in a 23-19 defeat.

The quarterback endured back-to-back tackles for loss on the Bills’ final possession, resulting in a long fourth down, but the Bills (with seven wins) gained 44 yards on a quick throw from Allen to a receiver, who flipped a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.

Following a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, Calen Bullock picked off the quarterback's throw at the 9-yard line with under half a minute remaining.

We possessed a opportunity to win it there at the end,” Josh Allen said. “We did a good job of staying in it and our defensive unit bailed us out a couple of times. We’ve got find a way, 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 other times. The QB threw for 253 yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after producing six TDs in a victory over Tampa Bay last week.

“When they hit our QB 12 times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach McDermott commented. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It’s just not a healthy way to play and it isn't a good way to preserve our quarterback healthy for the rest of the season. We’ve got to play better.”

Allen was slow to rise after a sack in the first half. He indicated he was OK and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being hit so many times on Thursday.

“It’s not fun,” he said. “I encountered a couple personally. I need to be better at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I found myself losing ground.”

The Bills' QB lost 70 yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 sacks to top the Houston defense. Another sack came when he nearly 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.

Buffalo competed for a second consecutive matchup absent wideout Coleman after he was once more 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 defeat to New England in the fifth week after also being late for a meeting.

No change. We are approaching it day by day,” McDermott said. “I thought he had a better week, but we are taking it one day at a time. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the guys that give us the best chance.”

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

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

In the end, we must perform, and we didn’t do a good job of that this evening,” he concluded. “Whatever scenario and whatever circumstance, we need to find a way, and we didn’t.”