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Little clicked for Josh Allen in a disappointing game Thursday night versus the Houston Texans.

Yet he came close to driving the Bills to a victory before an late pick in the final minute sealed their fate in a 23-19 loss.

Allen endured back-to-back tackles for loss on the team's final possession, leading to a long fourth down, but Buffalo (with seven wins) gained significant yardage on a short pass from Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a lateral to another teammate.

Following a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, a Texans defender picked off the quarterback's pass at the 9-yard line with under half a minute left.

We possessed a opportunity to win it there at the end,” Josh Allen stated. “Our team performed a good job of staying in it and our defensive unit saved us a couple of times. We must find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”

Proved 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. The QB passed for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after accounting for six touchdowns in a win over Tampa Bay the previous week.

“When they hit our quarterback a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott said. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It’s just not a healthy way to compete and it isn't a smart way to preserve our field general in good shape for the remaining games. We need to play better.”

Allen was sluggish to rise after a tackle in the first half. He indicated he was fine and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being hit so frequently on Thursday.

It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I encountered a couple myself. I’ve got to be better at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I found myself losing ground.”

The Bills' QB surrendered 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 sacks to top the Houston defense. Another sack came when he nearly sacked the QB 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 in the third quarter.

The Bills played for a second straight game absent wideout Keon Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their last game. He was earlier benched for the opening drive of a defeat to New England in Week 5 after also being delayed for a meeting.

No change. We’re just approaching it day by day,” McDermott said. “I thought he had a better week, but we’re taking it step by step. It was not that it was ignored, but we went with the players that provide the best chance.”

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

The quarterback was disappointed that the Bills were unable to make plays in crucial moments.

“Ultimately, we’ve got execute, and we failed to do a good job of that this evening,” he said. “No matter the scenario and whatever circumstance, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”