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Very little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a disappointing game Thursday night against the Texans.

And still he nearly managed to willing the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an late pick in the last moments sealed their fate in a close defeat.

Allen took consecutive sacks on the Bills’ last drive, resulting in a long fourth down, but Buffalo (7-4) picked up significant yardage on a short pass from Allen to a receiver, who flipped a backward pass to another teammate.

Following a pre-snap infraction created a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, Calen Bullock picked off the quarterback's pass at the 9-yard line with under half a minute remaining.

“We had a chance to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Allen stated. “We did a good job of staying in it and our defense bailed us out a couple of times. We’ve got find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”

Proved tough for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a night he was brought down a career-high on eight occasions and hit four additional instances. The QB passed for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after accounting for six TDs in a win over Tampa Bay last week.

Whenever they pressure our QB 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach Sean McDermott commented. “I don’t like that stat at all. It’s just not a healthy way to compete and it isn't a good way to preserve our quarterback healthy for the remaining games. We need to play better.”

Allen was slow to rise after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was fine and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being contacted so frequently during the game.

“It’s not fun,” he said. “I encountered a few personally. I’ve got to be better at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I was losing ground.”

The Bills' QB lost 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Anderson had 2.5 sacks to lead the Houston defense. Another sack occurred when he nearly sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and Anderson got up and chased him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt in the third quarter.

Buffalo played for a second straight game absent receiver Keon Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was tardy to a team meeting before their last game. He was earlier benched for the opening drive of a defeat to the Patriots in Week 5 after also being delayed for a meeting.

“Nothing new. We’re just approaching it day by day,” McDermott said. “I thought he had a better week, but we are taking it step by step. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the players that provide the best chance.”

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

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

In the end, we must perform, and we didn’t do a good job of that this evening,” he concluded. “No matter the situation and any condition, we need to discover a solution, and we came up short.”