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Little clicked for Josh Allen in a disappointing contest Thursday night versus the Houston Texans.

And still he nearly managed to driving the Bills to a win before an late pick in the last moments ended their hopes in a close defeat.

Allen endured back-to-back sacks on the Bills’ final possession, leading to a long fourth down, but the Bills (with seven wins) gained 44 yards on a quick throw from Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a lateral to Khalil Shakir.

After a false-start penalty created a fourth down situation for the Bills, a Texans defender intercepted Allen’s pass at the Houston 9 with under half a minute remaining.

“We had a chance to win it there at the conclusion,” Allen stated. “Our team performed a solid job of staying in it and our defense saved us a few instances. We must figure it out, and we didn’t.”

It was tough for Allen to establish rhythm on a night he was brought down a personal-worst on eight occasions and pressured four additional instances. Allen passed for 253 yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after producing six touchdowns in a win over Tampa Bay last week.

Whenever they pressure our QB 12 times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It is not a safe way to compete and it’s not a good way to keep our quarterback in good shape for the rest of the season. We’ve got to play better.”

Josh Allen was sluggish to rise after a tackle in the first half. He indicated he was OK and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being hit so frequently on Thursday.

“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I ran into a couple personally. I need to be more effective at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I was going backwards.”

The Bills' QB surrendered 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half sacks to lead the Houston defense. His second one came when he nearly took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and the defender got up and chased him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt early in the third.

The Bills competed for a second consecutive matchup without receiver Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was earlier held out for the opening drive of a defeat to the Patriots in Week 5 after additionally being late for a team session.

“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 wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the guys that provide the best chance.”

Shakir led the Buffalo with eight catches for 110 yards and Cook had 116 yards and a score.

Allen was frustrated that the team were unable to make plays in crucial moments.

In the end, we must perform, and we didn’t succeed of that tonight,” he said. “Whatever situation and any condition, we’ve got to find a way, and we came up short.”