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Very little clicked for Josh Allen in a tough game Thursday night against the Houston Texans.

Yet he nearly managed to driving the Bills to a win before an late pick in the final minute ended their hopes in a 23-19 loss.

Allen took back-to-back sacks on the team's last drive, leading to a long fourth down, but Buffalo (7-4) gained significant yardage on a quick throw from Allen to a receiver, who tossed a backward pass to another teammate.

After a false-start penalty created a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, Calen Bullock picked off Allen’s pass at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds remaining.

“We had a chance to win it there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen stated. “Our team performed a solid job of staying in it and our defense saved us a couple of times. We must figure it out, and we didn’t.”

It was difficult for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a evening he was brought down a personal-worst on eight occasions and hit four other times. Allen passed for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after producing six TDs in a victory over Tampa Bay last week.

Whenever they hit our QB a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach McDermott commented. “I don’t like that stat at all. It’s just not a healthy way to play and it isn't a good way to preserve our field general healthy for the rest of the season. We need to play better.”

Allen was sluggish to get up after a sack in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was OK and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was asked about being contacted so frequently on Thursday.

It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I ran into a couple personally. I’ve got to be more effective at disposing of the football. Too many times, I was going backwards.”

The Bills' QB surrendered 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Anderson had two and a half tackles for loss to lead the Houston defense. His second one occurred when he almost sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and Anderson rose and pursued him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt in the third quarter.

The Bills competed for a second straight game without wideout Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was late to a squad gathering before their last game. He was previously held out for the opening drive of a loss to the Patriots in Week 5 after additionally being late for a meeting.

No change. We are taking it one day at a time,” the coach noted. “I felt he had a improved week, but we’re taking it step by step. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the guys that provide the optimal opportunity.”

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

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

“Ultimately, we must perform, and we failed to succeed of that this evening,” he concluded. “No matter the situation and any condition, we need to discover a solution, and we came up short.”