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Very little went right for the Bills' quarterback in a disappointing game on Thursday evening versus the Texans.

And still he nearly managed to willing the Bills to a win before an late pick in the last moments ended their hopes in a 23-19 defeat.

The quarterback endured back-to-back sacks on the Bills’ last drive, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (7-4) gained significant yardage on a short pass from Allen to a receiver, who flipped a backward pass to another teammate.

After a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth down situation for the Bills, a Texans defender intercepted Allen’s throw at the Houston 9 with under half a minute left.

“We had a chance to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Allen said. “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 we didn’t.”

It was difficult for Allen to establish rhythm on a evening he was sacked a personal-worst on eight occasions and pressured four other times. The QB threw for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after producing six TDs in a win over the Buccaneers the previous week.

Whenever they hit our QB a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach McDermott said. “I don’t like that stat at all. It is not a safe way to play and it isn't a smart way to keep our field general in good shape for the remaining games. We need to improve our performance.”

Allen was sluggish to get up after a tackle in the first half. He indicated he was fine and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being contacted so many times on Thursday.

“It’s not fun,” he said. “I ran into a couple myself. I need to be better at disposing of the football. Too many times, I found myself losing ground.”

The Bills' QB lost 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half tackles for loss to top the Houston defense. Another sack occurred when he almost sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and Anderson got up and chased him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt in the third quarter.

Buffalo played for a second consecutive matchup absent wideout Keon Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was late to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was previously benched for the opening drive of a loss to New England in the fifth week after additionally being late for a team session.

No change. We’re just taking it day by day,” McDermott said. “I thought he had a improved week, but we are taking it one day at a time. It was not that it was ignored, but we went with the players that provide the best chance.”

Khalil Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight catches for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 yards and a score.

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

In the end, we must execute, and we didn’t do a good job of that tonight,” he said. “No matter the scenario and any circumstance, we need to discover a solution, and we came up short.”