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

And still he nearly managed to willing the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an late pick in the final minute sealed their fate in a 23-19 defeat.

The quarterback endured back-to-back tackles for loss on the team's last drive, resulting in a long fourth down, but the Bills (7-4) picked up 44 yards on a short pass from Allen to a receiver, who flipped a lateral to another teammate.

After a false-start penalty created a fourth down situation for Buffalo, a Texans defender picked off Allen’s pass at the Houston 9 with under half a minute left.

We possessed a opportunity to win it there at the end,” Josh Allen said. “Our team performed a good job of hanging tough and our defense bailed us out a couple of times. We must figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”

Proved difficult for the signal-caller to get anything going on a night he was sacked a career-high on eight occasions and pressured four additional instances. The QB passed for 253 yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after accounting for six TDs in a victory over the Buccaneers last week.

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

Allen was sluggish to rise after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He said he was fine and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being hit so many times during the game.

“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I encountered a couple personally. I need to be better at disposing of the football. Too many times, I found myself going backwards.”

The Bills' QB lost 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 tackles for loss to top the Houston defense. Another sack came when he nearly took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and the defender rose and pursued him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt early in the third.

Buffalo competed for a second straight game without wideout Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was previously benched for the opening drive 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,” the coach said. “I felt he had a better week, but we are handling it step by step. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we opted for the players that provide the best chance.”

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

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

“Ultimately, we must perform, and we failed to do a good job of that tonight,” he said. “Whatever situation and whatever condition, we need to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”