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Little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a tough game on Thursday evening versus the Houston Texans.

Yet he came close to willing the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an late pick in the last moments sealed their fate in a close loss.

The quarterback took back-to-back sacks on the Bills’ last drive, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (with seven wins) gained significant yardage on a short pass from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who tossed a lateral to Khalil Shakir.

After a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth down situation for the Bills, a Texans defender picked off Allen’s throw at the 9-yard line with under half a minute left.

We possessed a chance to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen said. “We did a solid job of staying in it and our defense saved us a couple of times. We must find a way, and we didn’t.”

It was difficult for Allen to establish rhythm on a evening he was brought down a personal-worst on eight occasions and hit four other times. The QB threw for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after accounting for six touchdowns in a victory over the Buccaneers last week.

Whenever they hit our quarterback 12 times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott said. “I don’t like that stat at all. It’s just 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 need to play better.”

Allen was sluggish to get up after a sack in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was OK and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being hit so many times during the game.

“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I encountered a few personally. I need to be more effective at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I found myself going backwards.”

The Bills' QB lost 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half sacks to lead the Texans. Another sack occurred when he nearly sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and Anderson rose and chased him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt early in the third.

The Bills competed 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 earlier held out for the first series of a loss to New England in the fifth week after additionally being delayed for a meeting.

“Nothing new. We’re just taking it day by day,” McDermott said. “I thought he had a improved week, but we are taking it one day at a time. It was not that it was ignored, but we went with the players that provide the optimal opportunity.”

Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight receptions for 110 yards and Cook had 116 rushing yards and a score.

The quarterback was frustrated that the team couldn’t make plays down the stretch.

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