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Very little went well for Josh Allen in a frustrating contest Thursday night versus the Houston Texans.

And still he nearly managed to driving the Bills to a victory before an interception in the last moments sealed their fate in a close defeat.

Allen took consecutive sacks on the Bills’ last drive, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (7-4) picked up significant yardage on a short pass from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a lateral to Khalil Shakir.

Following a pre-snap infraction created a fourth down situation for Buffalo, Calen Bullock intercepted the quarterback's pass at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds left.

We possessed 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 few instances. We must find a way, and we didn’t.”

It was difficult for Allen to establish rhythm on a evening he was brought down a career-high on eight occasions and pressured four additional instances. Allen threw for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after accounting for six TDs in a victory over Tampa Bay last week.

Whenever they hit our quarterback 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott commented. “I disapprove of 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 need to improve our performance.”

Josh Allen was slow to rise after a sack in the first half. He said he was OK and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being hit so many times during the game.

It's unpleasant,” he said. “I encountered a few myself. I’ve got to be more effective at disposing of the football. Too many times, I found myself going backwards.”

The Bills' QB surrendered 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Anderson had 2.5 tackles for loss to lead the Texans. His second one came when he nearly took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and the defender got up and pursued him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt early in the third.

Buffalo played for a second straight game absent wideout Keon Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was late to a team meeting before their last game. He was earlier held out for the opening drive of a loss to New England in Week 5 after also being late for a meeting.

“Nothing new. We’re just approaching it day by day,” McDermott said. “I felt he had a better week, but we are handling it step by step. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the guys that provide the best chance.”

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

Allen was frustrated that the team couldn’t execute down the stretch.

“Ultimately, we must execute, and we failed to do a good job of that tonight,” he concluded. “No matter the scenario and any condition, we need to find a way, and we came up short.”