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

And still he came close to willing the Bills to a win before an interception in the final minute sealed their fate in a 23-19 defeat.

The quarterback took consecutive tackles for loss on the Bills’ last drive, leading to a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (7-4) gained significant yardage on a short pass from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a backward pass to another teammate.

After a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth down situation for the Bills, a Texans defender picked off the quarterback's pass at the Houston 9 with under half a minute left.

“We had a opportunity to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Allen said. “Our team performed a good job of hanging tough and our defensive unit bailed us out a couple of times. We must find a way, and we didn’t.”

Proved tough for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a evening he was brought down a career-high on eight occasions and pressured four additional instances. Allen passed for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after accounting for six touchdowns in a win over Tampa Bay the previous week.

“When they hit our quarterback 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It is not a safe way to compete and it isn't a good way to preserve our field general healthy for the rest of the season. We’ve got to improve our performance.”

Allen was sluggish to rise after a sack in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was fine and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being hit so many times during the game.

“It’s not fun,” he said. “I encountered a couple personally. I’ve got to be more effective at disposing of the football. Too many times, I found myself losing ground.”

Allen lost 70 yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half tackles for loss to lead the Texans. His second one came when he nearly took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and the defender got up and chased him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt in the third quarter.

The Bills played for a second consecutive matchup absent wideout Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was late to a squad gathering before their last game. He was earlier benched for the opening drive of a defeat to the Patriots in the fifth week after also being delayed for a meeting.

No change. We’re just taking it day by day,” the coach noted. “I felt he had a better week, but we’re handling it step by step. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we opted for the players that provide the optimal opportunity.”

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

Allen was disappointed that the Bills couldn’t make plays down the stretch.

In the end, we’ve got perform, and we failed to succeed of that tonight,” he concluded. “No matter the situation and whatever condition, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”