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

Yet he nearly managed to willing the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an late pick in the final minute sealed their fate in a 23-19 loss.

Allen took consecutive tackles for loss on the Bills’ final possession, leading to a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (7-4) gained significant yardage on a short pass from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a lateral to Khalil Shakir.

After a false-start penalty created a fourth down situation for Buffalo, a Texans defender picked off the quarterback's pass at the 9-yard line with under half a minute left.

“We had a opportunity to win it there at the end,” Josh Allen stated. “Our team performed a solid job of staying in it and our defense saved us a few instances. We’ve got find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”

It was tough for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a night he was sacked a personal-worst on eight occasions and pressured four additional instances. Allen threw for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after producing six touchdowns in a win over Tampa Bay the previous week.

“When they hit our QB a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach McDermott said. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It is not a safe way to play and it’s not a smart way to keep our quarterback healthy for the rest of the season. We need to improve our performance.”

Allen was sluggish to get up after a tackle in the first half. 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 unpleasant,” he remarked. “I ran into a few personally. I’ve got to be better at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I was losing ground.”

Allen surrendered 70 yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half tackles for loss to lead the Houston defense. Another sack came when he nearly took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and Anderson 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 consecutive matchup without receiver Keon Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was tardy to a team meeting before their last game. He was earlier benched for the opening drive of a loss to the Patriots in the fifth week after also being delayed for a team session.

“Nothing new. We’re just taking it day by day,” McDermott noted. “I thought he had a better week, but we’re taking it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we opted for the guys that give us the optimal opportunity.”

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

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

“Ultimately, we must execute, and we didn’t do a good job of that this evening,” he concluded. “No matter the situation and whatever circumstance, we’ve got to find a way, and we came up short.”