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

And still he nearly managed to willing the Bills to a win before an interception in the last moments ended their hopes in a close loss.

Allen took consecutive sacks on the team's final possession, leading to a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (with seven wins) picked up significant yardage on a quick throw from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.

After a false-start penalty led to a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, a Texans defender picked off the quarterback's throw at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds left.

“We had a chance to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen stated. “We did a solid job of staying in it and our defense bailed us out a couple of times. We must find a way, and we didn’t.”

It was tough for Allen to establish rhythm on a night he was sacked a career-high on eight occasions and hit four other times. Allen passed for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and zero scores after accounting for six TDs in a victory over Tampa Bay the previous week.

Whenever they hit our quarterback 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach Sean McDermott commented. “I don’t like that stat at all. It’s just not a safe way to play and it isn't a smart way to preserve 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 fine and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being contacted so many times on Thursday.

“It’s not fun,” he said. “I encountered a few myself. I’ve got to be better at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I was going backwards.”

Allen lost 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half tackles for loss to top the Houston defense. His second one came when he nearly took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and Anderson rose and pursued him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt early in the third.

Buffalo played for a second straight game without wideout Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was earlier benched for the opening drive of a loss to New England in the fifth week after also being delayed for a meeting.

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

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

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

“Ultimately, we’ve got perform, and we didn’t do a good job of that this evening,” he concluded. “Whatever situation and any condition, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”