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

And still he nearly managed to willing the Bills to a win before an interception in the final minute sealed their fate in a 23-19 loss.

The quarterback endured consecutive tackles for loss on the Bills’ last drive, leading to a long fourth down, but the Bills (7-4) picked up significant yardage on a quick throw from Allen to a receiver, who flipped a lateral to Khalil Shakir.

After a false-start penalty led to a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, Calen Bullock picked off the quarterback's throw at the Houston 9 with under half a minute remaining.

“We had a chance to win it there at the conclusion,” Allen said. “We did a solid job of staying in it and our defense saved us 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 eight times and hit four additional instances. The QB threw for 253 yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after accounting for six TDs in a victory over Tampa Bay the previous week.

“When they pressure our quarterback 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach Sean McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It’s just not a safe way to compete and it’s not a smart way to preserve our field general healthy for the remaining games. We’ve got to improve our performance.”

Allen was slow to rise after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He said he was OK and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being contacted so frequently during the game.

“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I encountered a couple personally. I need to be better at disposing of the football. Too many times, I was losing ground.”

The Bills' QB lost 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 sacks to lead the Texans. His second one came when he nearly sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and the defender got up and pursued him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt in the third quarter.

Buffalo competed for a second straight game absent receiver Keon Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was tardy to a team meeting before their last game. He was earlier benched for the first series of a loss to New England in the fifth week after also being late for a meeting.

No change. We are taking it day by day,” McDermott said. “I felt he had a improved week, but we’re taking it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the guys that provide the best chance.”

Shakir topped the Bills with eight receptions for 110 yards and Cook had 116 yards and a score.

The quarterback was disappointed that the team were unable to make plays down the stretch.

In the end, we must perform, and we failed to do a good job of that this evening,” he concluded. “No matter the situation and any circumstance, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”