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Very little went well for Josh Allen in a disappointing contest Thursday night versus the Texans.

And still he came close to willing the Buffalo Bills to a win before an late pick in the final minute ended their hopes in a 23-19 defeat.

Allen endured back-to-back sacks on the team's final possession, resulting in a long fourth down, but Buffalo (with seven wins) gained significant yardage on a quick throw from Josh Allen to a receiver, who flipped a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.

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

We possessed a chance to come out on top there at the end,” Allen said. “We did a solid job of hanging tough and our defensive unit saved us a couple of times. We must figure it out, and we didn’t.”

Proved difficult for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a night he was sacked a personal-worst on eight occasions and pressured four other times. The QB threw for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after producing six TDs in a win over the Buccaneers the previous week.

“When they hit our QB a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott commented. “I don’t like that stat at all. It is not a safe way to play and it isn't a good way to preserve our field general in good shape for the rest of the season. We’ve got to play better.”

Josh Allen was slow to get up after a sack in the first half. He said he was fine and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being hit so frequently during the game.

“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I encountered a few personally. I need to be better at disposing of the football. Too many times, I was losing ground.”

Allen lost 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 tackles for loss to top the Houston defense. His second one occurred when he almost sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and the defender rose and chased him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt early in the third.

Buffalo played for a second straight game without receiver Keon Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their last game. He was previously benched for the opening drive of a defeat to New England in the fifth week after additionally being late for a meeting.

No change. We’re just taking it day by day,” the coach noted. “I felt he had a better week, but we are taking it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we went with the players that provide the best chance.”

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

Allen was frustrated that the Bills were unable to execute in crucial moments.

“Ultimately, we’ve got perform, and we failed to succeed of that this evening,” he said. “Whatever situation and whatever condition, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”