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Very little went well for the Bills' quarterback in a disappointing contest on Thursday evening against the Texans.

And still he came close to willing the Bills to a victory before an late pick in the last moments ended their hopes in a 23-19 defeat.

Allen endured consecutive tackles for loss on the Bills’ last drive, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (7-4) picked up 44 yards on a quick throw from Allen to a receiver, who flipped a backward pass to another teammate.

Following a pre-snap infraction created a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, Calen Bullock intercepted the quarterback's throw at the 9-yard line with under half a minute left.

We possessed a chance to win it there at the end,” Allen stated. “Our team performed a good job of staying in it and our defense bailed us out a few instances. We must figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”

Proved tough for Allen to get anything going on a evening he was sacked a career-high on eight occasions and hit four other times. Allen passed for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and zero scores after producing six touchdowns in a win over the Buccaneers last week.

Whenever they pressure our QB 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 play and it’s not a good way to keep our quarterback healthy for the remaining games. We’ve got to play better.”

Allen was sluggish to get up after a sack in the first half. He indicated he was OK and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was asked about being hit so frequently on Thursday.

It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I encountered a few myself. I’ve got to be more effective at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I found myself going backwards.”

Allen surrendered 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Anderson had 2.5 tackles for loss to lead the Houston defense. His second one came when he nearly took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and Anderson got up and chased him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt early in the third.

The Bills competed for a second straight game without wideout Keon Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their last game. He was previously benched for the opening drive of a loss to the Patriots in Week 5 after also being delayed for a team session.

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

Khalil Shakir topped the Bills with eight catches for 110 yards and Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.

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

“Ultimately, we’ve got execute, and we didn’t do a good job of that tonight,” he concluded. “No matter the situation and whatever condition, we need to discover a solution, and we came up short.”