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Little clicked for Josh Allen in a tough game Thursday night against the Texans.

And still he came close to willing the Buffalo Bills to a win before an interception in the last moments sealed their fate in a 23-19 loss.

Allen took back-to-back tackles for loss on the Bills’ final possession, resulting in a long fourth down, but Buffalo (with seven wins) gained significant yardage on a short pass from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a lateral to another teammate.

Following a pre-snap infraction created a fourth down situation for the Bills, Calen Bullock picked off the quarterback's throw at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds remaining.

We possessed a opportunity to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen stated. “Our team performed a good job of hanging tough and our defensive unit saved us a couple of times. We must figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”

Proved tough for Allen to establish rhythm on a night he was brought down a career-high eight times and hit four other times. Allen passed for 253 yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after accounting for six TDs in a win over the Buccaneers the previous week.

Whenever they hit our QB 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott said. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It is not a safe way to play and it’s not a smart way to keep our quarterback healthy for the rest of the season. We’ve got to improve our performance.”

Allen was slow to rise after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was OK and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was asked about being contacted so many times on Thursday.

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

Allen lost 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Anderson had 2.5 sacks to top the Texans. His second one came when he nearly took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and the defender rose and chased him across the field 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 without receiver 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 first series of a defeat to New England in Week 5 after additionally being late for a team session.

No change. We’re just taking it one day at a time,” McDermott said. “I felt he had a improved week, but we are handling it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the guys that provide the best chance.”

Shakir led the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and James Cook had 116 yards and a touchdown.

The quarterback was disappointed that the Bills couldn’t execute down the stretch.

“Ultimately, we must execute, and we failed to succeed of that this evening,” he said. “No matter the scenario and any condition, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”