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

Yet he came close to willing the Bills to a victory before an interception in the last moments ended their hopes in a 23-19 loss.

The quarterback endured consecutive tackles for loss on the team's last drive, resulting in a long fourth down, but the Bills (with seven wins) gained 44 yards on a quick throw from Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a lateral to Khalil Shakir.

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

“We had a chance to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Allen stated. “We did a solid job of staying in it and our defense bailed us out a few instances. We must find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”

Proved difficult for Allen to establish rhythm on a evening he was sacked a personal-worst on eight occasions and pressured four additional instances. The QB threw for 253 yards with two interceptions and zero scores after producing six touchdowns in a victory over Tampa Bay last week.

Whenever they pressure our QB a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott said. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It is not a safe way to compete and it isn't a good way to keep our field general healthy for the rest of the season. We need to play better.”

Allen was sluggish to rise after a sack in the opening two quarters. He said he was fine and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being hit so many times on Thursday.

It's unpleasant,” he said. “I ran into a few myself. I need to be more effective at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I was losing ground.”

The Bills' QB lost 70 yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had 2.5 tackles for loss to top the Houston defense. His second one came when he nearly sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and the defender got up and pursued him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt in the third quarter.

The Bills played for a second consecutive matchup absent receiver Coleman after he was again a non-participant 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 the fifth week after also being late for a team session.

“Nothing new. We are taking it one day at a time,” McDermott noted. “I felt he had a improved week, but we are handling it step by step. It was not that it was ignored, but we opted for the guys that give us the best chance.”

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

Allen was frustrated that the team couldn’t execute in crucial moments.

In the end, we must execute, and we didn’t succeed of that this evening,” he said. “Whatever scenario and any condition, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”