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Little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a disappointing contest on Thursday evening against the Houston Texans.

Yet he nearly managed to driving the Buffalo Bills to a win before an late pick in the final minute sealed their fate in a 23-19 defeat.

Allen endured consecutive tackles for loss on the team's last drive, resulting in a long fourth down, but the Bills (with seven wins) gained significant yardage on a quick throw from Allen to a receiver, who flipped a backward pass to another teammate.

After a pre-snap infraction created a fourth down situation for Buffalo, Calen Bullock picked off Allen’s throw at the Houston 9 with under half a minute remaining.

We possessed a opportunity to win it there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen stated. “Our team performed a good job of hanging tough and our defense saved us a few instances. We must figure it out, and we didn’t.”

It was tough for the signal-caller to get anything going on a evening he was brought down a personal-worst eight times and hit four other times. The QB passed for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after producing six TDs in a victory over Tampa Bay last week.

Whenever they pressure our QB 12 times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It is not a safe way to compete and it isn't a good way to keep our field general healthy for the rest of the season. We’ve got 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 “lost some feeling” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being hit so many times on Thursday.

It's unpleasant,” he said. “I encountered a couple personally. I need to be better at disposing of the football. Too many times, I found myself going backwards.”

Allen surrendered 70 yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had 2.5 tackles for loss to top the Texans. Another sack came when he almost took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and Anderson rose and chased him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt in the third quarter.

Buffalo competed for a second consecutive matchup without receiver Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was late to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was previously held out for the first series of a defeat to the Patriots in Week 5 after also being late for a meeting.

No change. We’re just approaching it day by day,” McDermott said. “I thought 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 best chance.”

Shakir led the Buffalo with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.

The quarterback was frustrated that the Bills were unable to make plays in crucial moments.

“Ultimately, we must execute, and we didn’t succeed of that tonight,” he concluded. “Whatever situation and whatever condition, we’ve got to find a way, and we came up short.”