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Little went right for the Bills' quarterback in a tough game on Thursday evening against the Houston Texans.

Yet he came close to driving the Buffalo Bills to a win before an late pick in the last moments ended their hopes in a close loss.

The quarterback endured back-to-back sacks on the Bills’ final possession, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (7-4) gained significant yardage on a quick throw from Josh Allen to a receiver, who tossed a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.

Following a pre-snap infraction created a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, a Texans defender picked off the quarterback's pass at the 9-yard line with under half a minute left.

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

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

“When they pressure our QB a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It is not a healthy way to play and it’s not a good way to preserve our field general in good shape for the remaining games. We need to improve our performance.”

Josh Allen was sluggish 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 fell on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being hit so many times on Thursday.

“It’s not fun,” he said. “I ran into a couple personally. I need to be more effective at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I found myself losing ground.”

Allen surrendered 70 yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half sacks to top the Texans. Another sack came when he nearly took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and the defender got up and pursued him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt in the third quarter.

The Bills played for a second straight game without receiver Coleman after he was once more 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 team session.

No change. We are approaching it one day at a time,” McDermott noted. “I felt he had a improved week, but we’re handling it step by step. It was not that it was ignored, but we went with the players that provide the best chance.”

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

The quarterback was frustrated that the Bills couldn’t execute down the stretch.

In the end, we must perform, and we failed to succeed of that this evening,” he said. “No matter the situation and any circumstance, we’ve got to find a way, and we came up short.”