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Very little went right for the Bills' quarterback in a tough game Thursday night versus the Texans.

And still he came close to driving the Bills to a win before an interception in the final minute ended their hopes in a close loss.

The quarterback took consecutive sacks on the Bills’ final possession, leading to a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (7-4) gained 44 yards on a short pass from Allen to a receiver, who tossed a lateral to Khalil Shakir.

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

“We had a opportunity to win it there at the end,” Josh Allen said. “Our team performed a solid job of staying in it and our defensive unit saved us a couple of times. We’ve got find a way, and we didn’t.”

It was difficult for Allen to establish rhythm on a night he was sacked a career-high eight times and pressured four additional instances. The QB threw for 253 yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after producing six TDs in a victory over the Buccaneers the previous week.

“When they hit our quarterback a dozen 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 safe way to compete and it’s not a good way to preserve our field general in good shape for the remaining games. We’ve got to play better.”

Allen was slow to rise after a sack in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was OK and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being contacted so many times on Thursday.

“It’s not fun,” he said. “I ran into a few myself. I need to be more effective at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I found myself losing ground.”

The Bills' QB surrendered 70 yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had 2.5 tackles for loss to lead the Texans. Another sack came when he nearly sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and the defender rose and pursued him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt in the third quarter.

Buffalo competed for a second consecutive matchup absent wideout Keon Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was late to a squad gathering before their last game. He was previously benched for the opening drive of a loss to the Patriots in the fifth week after additionally being delayed for a team session.

No change. We’re just approaching it one day at a time,” McDermott noted. “I thought he had a better week, but we’re handling it step by step. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the players that provide the optimal opportunity.”

Khalil Shakir topped the Bills with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.

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

In the end, we’ve got perform, and we didn’t do a good job of that this evening,” he concluded. “Whatever scenario and whatever circumstance, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”