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

And still he nearly managed to willing the Buffalo Bills to a win before an interception in the last moments ended their hopes in a close loss.

The quarterback endured back-to-back sacks on the team's last drive, leading to a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (7-4) gained significant yardage on a short pass from Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a backward pass to another teammate.

After a pre-snap infraction created a fourth down situation for the Bills, a Texans defender intercepted Allen’s pass at the Houston 9 with 24 seconds left.

“We had a opportunity to win it there at the end,” Allen stated. “Our team performed a good job of staying in it and our defensive unit saved us a few instances. We’ve got find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”

It was difficult for Allen to establish rhythm on a evening he was sacked a career-high on eight occasions and hit four other times. Allen passed for 253 yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after accounting for six TDs in a win over the Buccaneers the previous week.

“When they hit our QB 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach McDermott said. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It’s just not a safe way to play and it isn't a good way to keep our quarterback healthy for the rest of the season. We’ve got to improve our performance.”

Josh Allen was sluggish to rise after a sack in the opening two quarters. He said he was OK and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was asked about being contacted so frequently on Thursday.

“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I encountered a few personally. I’ve got to be better at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I was going backwards.”

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

The Bills played for a second straight game without wideout Keon Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was late to a team meeting before their last game. He was previously held out for the opening drive of a loss to New England in the fifth week after also being delayed for a team session.

No change. We are approaching it day by day,” McDermott noted. “I thought he had a better week, but we’re handling it step by step. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the guys that provide the best chance.”

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

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

“Ultimately, we must perform, and we didn’t do a good job of that tonight,” he concluded. “No matter the situation and whatever condition, we’ve got to find a way, and we came up short.”