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Little went right for Josh Allen in a frustrating contest Thursday night against the Texans.

And still he nearly managed to driving the Bills to a win 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) gained significant yardage on a quick throw from Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a lateral to Khalil Shakir.

After a false-start penalty led to a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, Calen Bullock picked off the quarterback's throw at the Houston 9 with under half a minute left.

We possessed a opportunity to come out on top there at the end,” Allen stated. “We did a good job of staying in it and our defense bailed us out a few instances. We must find a way, and we didn’t.”

Proved difficult for the signal-caller to get anything going on a evening he was sacked a personal-worst on eight occasions and hit four additional instances. The QB threw for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after producing six touchdowns in a victory over the Buccaneers the previous week.

Whenever they pressure our quarterback a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “I don’t like that stat at all. It is not a safe way to play and it’s not a good way to preserve our quarterback healthy for the rest of the season. We’ve got to play better.”

Josh Allen was slow to rise after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He said he was OK and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was asked about being contacted so many times on Thursday.

It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I encountered a few personally. I need to be more effective at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I was going backwards.”

Allen surrendered 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Anderson had two and a half tackles for loss to lead the Texans. His second one occurred when he nearly took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and the defender got up and chased him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt in the third quarter.

The Bills played for a second consecutive matchup absent wideout Keon Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their last game. He was previously benched for the first series of a loss to New England in Week 5 after additionally being late for a meeting.

“Nothing new. We are taking it one day at a time,” the coach noted. “I felt 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 went with the guys that provide the optimal opportunity.”

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

The quarterback was frustrated that the Bills couldn’t make plays in crucial moments.

In the end, we must execute, and we didn’t do a good job of that this evening,” he said. “Whatever scenario and any condition, we’ve got to find a way, and we came up short.”