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Very little went well for Josh Allen in a disappointing game on Thursday evening against the Houston Texans.

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

Allen endured back-to-back tackles for loss on the Bills’ final possession, leading to a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (with seven wins) picked up significant yardage on a short pass from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a lateral to Khalil Shakir.

Following a pre-snap infraction created a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, Calen Bullock picked off Allen’s throw at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds remaining.

“We had a chance to win it there at the end,” Josh Allen stated. “We did a good job of hanging tough and our defense bailed us out a couple of times. We’ve got find a way, and we didn’t.”

It was tough for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a night he was brought down a personal-worst on eight occasions and hit four additional instances. Allen passed for 253 yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after accounting for six touchdowns in a victory over Tampa Bay last 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’s just not a healthy way to compete and it isn't a smart way to keep our quarterback healthy for the remaining games. We’ve got to improve our performance.”

Josh Allen was sluggish to rise after a sack in the first half. He said he was OK and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being contacted so frequently during the game.

It's unpleasant,” he said. “I encountered a few myself. I need to be better at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I found myself going backwards.”

Allen surrendered 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Anderson had two and a half sacks to lead the Houston defense. Another sack came when he nearly took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and Anderson rose and chased him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard loss 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 late to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was earlier held out for the opening drive of a loss to New England in the fifth week after also being late for a team session.

No change. We are approaching it day by day,” McDermott said. “I felt he had a better week, but we are 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.”

Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 yards and a score.

Allen was frustrated that the team were unable to execute in crucial moments.

In the end, we must perform, and we didn’t do a good job of that this evening,” he concluded. “No matter the situation and any condition, we need to find a way, and we came up short.”