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Little went well for Josh Allen in a disappointing contest on Thursday evening against the Texans.

Yet 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.

Allen took consecutive sacks on the Bills’ last drive, leading to a long fourth down, but Buffalo (7-4) gained 44 yards on a quick throw from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a backward pass to another teammate.

After a false-start penalty created a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, Calen Bullock picked off Allen’s pass at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds remaining.

“We had a opportunity to win it there at the end,” Allen said. “We did a good job of staying in it and our defense bailed us out a couple of times. We must figure it out, and we didn’t.”

Proved tough for Allen to establish rhythm on a evening he was brought down a personal-worst eight times and hit four other times. Allen threw for 253 yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after producing six touchdowns in a win over Tampa Bay the previous week.

“When they pressure our quarterback a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach McDermott commented. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It is not a healthy way to play and it isn't a good way to keep our field general in good shape for the remaining games. We’ve got to improve our performance.”

Allen was slow to get up after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was fine and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was asked about being hit so many times during the game.

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

The Bills' QB lost 70 yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half tackles for loss to top the Texans. Another sack occurred when he almost sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and the defender rose and chased him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt early in the third.

Buffalo competed for a second consecutive matchup 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 held out for the opening drive of a loss to the Patriots in the fifth week after additionally being delayed for a meeting.

No change. We are taking it day by day,” McDermott said. “I felt he had a improved 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 guys that provide the best chance.”

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

The quarterback was frustrated that the team couldn’t make plays down the stretch.

In the end, we must execute, and we didn’t do a good job of that this evening,” he concluded. “Whatever scenario and any condition, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”