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Little clicked for Josh Allen in a disappointing game Thursday night versus the Texans.

Yet he came close to driving the Buffalo Bills to a win before an late pick in the final minute sealed their fate in a 23-19 loss.

The quarterback took consecutive tackles for loss on the team's final possession, leading to a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (with seven wins) gained 44 yards on a short pass from Josh Allen to a receiver, who tossed a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.

After a false-start penalty led to a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, a Texans defender intercepted Allen’s throw at the Houston 9 with under half a minute left.

We possessed a opportunity to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen said. “We did a good job of hanging tough and our defensive unit bailed us out a few instances. We must figure it out, and we didn’t.”

It was tough for the signal-caller to get anything going on a night he was brought down a career-high eight times and pressured four additional instances. The QB threw for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after accounting for six TDs in a victory over Tampa Bay the previous week.

“When they pressure our QB 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It’s just not a healthy way to compete and it isn't a good way to keep our quarterback healthy for the rest of the season. We need to improve our performance.”

Josh Allen was sluggish to rise after a sack in the first half. He said he was fine and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being contacted so frequently during the game.

“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I encountered a few personally. I’ve got to be better at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I was losing ground.”

The Bills' QB surrendered 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 sacks to top the Texans. Another sack occurred when he nearly took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and the defender rose and pursued him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt in the third quarter.

Buffalo competed for a second straight game without wideout Keon Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their last game. He was previously held out for the first series of a defeat to the Patriots in the fifth week 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’re handling it step by step. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we opted for the players that give us the optimal opportunity.”

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

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

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