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Very little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a tough game Thursday night versus the Texans.

And still he came close to driving the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an late pick in the last moments ended their hopes in a close defeat.

Allen endured back-to-back sacks on the team's last drive, resulting in a long fourth down, but the Bills (7-4) picked up significant yardage on a short pass from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a lateral to Khalil Shakir.

Following a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, Calen Bullock picked off the quarterback's pass at the Houston 9 with under half a minute remaining.

We possessed a opportunity to win it there at the conclusion,” Allen stated. “Our team performed a solid job of staying in it and our defense bailed us out a couple of times. We must find a way, and we didn’t.”

It was tough for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a evening he was brought down a career-high on eight occasions and pressured four other times. Allen threw for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after producing six TDs in a victory over the Buccaneers the previous week.

Whenever they hit our quarterback 12 times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott said. “I don’t like that stat at all. It is not a safe way to compete 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 slow to rise after a tackle in the first half. He indicated he was OK and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being hit so many times during the game.

“It’s not fun,” he said. “I encountered a few myself. I need to be better at disposing of the football. Too many times, I found myself going backwards.”

The Bills' QB lost 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had two and a half sacks to top the Houston defense. Another sack occurred when he almost sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and the defender rose and chased him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt early in the third.

The Bills played for a second consecutive matchup absent receiver Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their last game. He was previously held out for the opening drive of a loss to the Patriots in the fifth week after additionally being late for a meeting.

“Nothing new. We’re just approaching it day by day,” McDermott said. “I felt 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 guys that provide the best chance.”

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

The quarterback was frustrated that the team were unable to execute in crucial moments.

In the end, we’ve got perform, and we didn’t do a good job of that tonight,” he said. “No matter the situation and whatever circumstance, we’ve got to find a way, and we came up short.”