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Little clicked for Josh Allen in a frustrating game on Thursday evening against the Houston Texans.

And still he came close to willing the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an late pick in the final minute sealed their fate in a close loss.

Allen took consecutive sacks on the team's final possession, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (7-4) picked up significant yardage on a quick throw from Josh Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a lateral to Khalil Shakir.

Following a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, a Texans defender intercepted Allen’s pass at the 9-yard line with under half a minute left.

“We had a chance to win it there at the conclusion,” Allen said. “Our team performed a solid job of staying in it and our defensive unit bailed us out a few instances. We’ve got find a way, and we didn’t.”

Proved difficult for Allen to get anything going on a night he was brought down a personal-worst eight times and hit four other times. Allen threw for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after producing six touchdowns in a win over Tampa Bay last week.

Whenever they pressure our quarterback 12 times, I don’t like that,” 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 smart way to preserve our quarterback in good shape for the remaining games. We need to play better.”

Josh Allen was sluggish to rise after a sack in the opening two quarters. He said he was fine and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being contacted so frequently during the game.

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

Allen lost 70 yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had two and a half sacks to lead the Texans. His second one came when he almost sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and the defender got up and chased him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt in the third quarter.

Buffalo played for a second consecutive matchup without wideout Keon Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was earlier held out for the first series of a loss to New England in Week 5 after additionally being late for a meeting.

“Nothing new. We’re just approaching it day by day,” McDermott noted. “I thought he had a better week, but we’re handling it step by step. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we went with the guys that give us the best chance.”

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

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

In the end, we must execute, and we failed to succeed of that this evening,” he concluded. “No matter the situation and whatever circumstance, we need to find a way, and we came up short.”