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Little went well for the Bills' quarterback in a tough contest Thursday night against the Texans.

Yet he came close to driving the Bills to a victory before an late pick in the final minute sealed their fate in a close defeat.

The quarterback endured back-to-back sacks on the Bills’ last drive, leading to a long fourth down, but Buffalo (7-4) picked up 44 yards on a quick throw from Josh Allen to a receiver, who flipped a lateral to another teammate.

After a false-start penalty led to a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, Calen Bullock intercepted Allen’s pass at the Houston 9 with under half a minute remaining.

We possessed a opportunity to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen said. “We did a good job of hanging tough and our defensive unit saved us a few instances. We must find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”

Proved difficult for Allen to establish rhythm on a evening he was brought down a career-high on eight occasions and pressured four additional instances. Allen passed for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after accounting for six touchdowns in a victory over the Buccaneers the previous week.

“When they pressure our quarterback 12 times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It’s just not a healthy way to play and it isn't a smart way to preserve our field general in good shape for the rest of the season. We’ve got to play better.”

Josh Allen was sluggish to rise after a sack in the first half. He indicated he was fine and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being hit so frequently during the game.

It's unpleasant,” he said. “I encountered a few myself. I’ve got to be more effective at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I found myself losing ground.”

The Bills' QB surrendered 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Anderson had two and a half sacks to top the Texans. Another sack occurred when he nearly sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and the defender got up and pursued 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 straight game without wideout Keon Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was late to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was previously benched for the first series of a defeat to the Patriots in the fifth week after also being delayed for a meeting.

No change. We’re just approaching it one day at a time,” McDermott said. “I felt he had a improved week, but we are handling it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the players that give us the optimal opportunity.”

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

Allen was frustrated that the team couldn’t execute down the stretch.

In the end, we’ve got execute, and we didn’t do a good job of that this evening,” he said. “No matter the scenario and any circumstance, we need to find a way, and we came up short.”