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Very little went right for Josh Allen in a disappointing game Thursday night against the Houston Texans.

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

The quarterback endured consecutive sacks on the team's last drive, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (with seven wins) gained significant yardage on a short pass from Josh Allen to a receiver, who tossed a lateral to another teammate.

After a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth down situation for the Bills, Calen Bullock intercepted the quarterback's throw at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds remaining.

“We had a opportunity 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 must find a way, and we didn’t.”

It was difficult for Allen to get anything going on a night he was brought down a career-high on eight occasions and pressured four additional instances. The QB passed for 253 yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after producing six TDs in a win over the Buccaneers the previous week.

“When they hit our quarterback 12 times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott said. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It’s just not a healthy way to play and it isn't a smart way to keep our quarterback in good shape for the rest of the season. We’ve got to play better.”

Josh Allen was slow to get up after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was OK and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was asked about being contacted so many times on Thursday.

“It’s not fun,” he said. “I ran into a couple myself. I’ve got to be more effective at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I was losing ground.”

Allen surrendered 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 tackles for loss to top the Houston defense. Another sack came when he almost took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and the defender rose and pursued him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt early in the third.

Buffalo competed for a second consecutive matchup without wideout Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their last game. He was previously benched for the opening drive of a defeat to the Patriots in Week 5 after also being delayed for a meeting.

“Nothing new. We are taking it day by day,” McDermott noted. “I thought he had a better week, but we are handling 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 receptions for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.

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

In the end, we must execute, and we failed to do a good job of that tonight,” he said. “No matter the situation and whatever condition, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we came up short.”