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Very little went well for Josh Allen in a disappointing contest on Thursday evening against the Houston Texans.

Yet he came close to willing the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an interception in the final minute sealed their fate in a 23-19 defeat.

Allen endured back-to-back sacks on the Bills’ final possession, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (7-4) picked up significant yardage on a quick throw from Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a backward pass to another teammate.

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

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

Proved difficult for Allen to establish rhythm on a evening he was sacked a personal-worst eight times and pressured four additional instances. The QB passed for 253 yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after producing six touchdowns in a win over Tampa Bay the previous week.

“When they hit our QB 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach Sean 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 field general healthy for the rest of the season. We need to improve our performance.”

Allen was sluggish to rise after a tackle in the first half. He said he was OK and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being hit so frequently during the game.

It's unpleasant,” he said. “I ran into a couple myself. I need to be more effective at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I was going backwards.”

Allen lost 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had 2.5 sacks to top the Texans. His second one came when he nearly took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and Anderson got up and pursued him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt early in the third.

The Bills competed for a second consecutive matchup absent receiver Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was late to a squad gathering before their last game. He was previously benched for the first series of a defeat to New England in Week 5 after also being late for a meeting.

“Nothing new. We are approaching it one day at a time,” McDermott noted. “I felt he had a improved week, but we are handling it step by step. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the players that provide the best chance.”

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

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

“Ultimately, we must perform, and we failed to succeed of that tonight,” he said. “No matter the situation and any circumstance, we need to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”