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Very little went well for the Bills' quarterback in a disappointing contest Thursday night versus the Texans.

Yet he nearly managed to willing the Bills to a win before an late pick in the final minute ended their hopes in a 23-19 defeat.

The quarterback took back-to-back sacks on the team's last drive, leading to a long fourth down, but the Bills (7-4) picked up 44 yards on a quick throw from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a lateral to another teammate.

After a false-start penalty led to a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, Calen Bullock picked off Allen’s pass at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds left.

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

Proved tough for Allen to establish rhythm on a night he was sacked a personal-worst eight times and pressured four additional instances. Allen passed for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after accounting for six TDs in a win over the Buccaneers the previous week.

“When they pressure our QB a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach Sean McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It is not a healthy way to compete and it’s not a smart way to preserve our quarterback healthy for the rest of the season. We’ve got to play better.”

Allen was slow to get up after a sack in the first half. He said he was OK and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being hit so many times on Thursday.

It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I ran into a couple personally. I’ve got to be more effective at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I found myself going backwards.”

Allen surrendered 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had 2.5 tackles for loss to lead the Texans. Another sack occurred when he nearly sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and the defender rose and chased him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt in the third quarter.

Buffalo competed for a second consecutive matchup without wideout Keon Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was late to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was earlier held out for the opening drive of a defeat to New England in the fifth week after also being delayed for a meeting.

“Nothing new. We are approaching it day by day,” McDermott noted. “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 give us the optimal opportunity.”

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

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

In the end, we must perform, and we didn’t do a good job of that tonight,” he said. “Whatever situation and whatever circumstance, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”