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Very little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a tough game Thursday night against the Houston Texans.

And still he nearly managed to willing the Bills to a win before an interception in the final minute ended their hopes in a close loss.

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

After a false-start penalty led to a fourth down situation for Buffalo, Calen Bullock intercepted the quarterback's pass at the 9-yard line with under half a minute remaining.

“We had a opportunity to win it there at the conclusion,” Allen stated. “We did a good job of hanging tough and our defensive unit bailed us out a couple of times. We’ve got figure it out, and we didn’t.”

It was difficult for Allen to establish rhythm on a evening he was sacked a career-high on eight occasions and pressured four other times. Allen passed for 253 yards with a pair of picks and no touchdowns after producing six touchdowns in a victory over the Buccaneers last week.

“When they pressure our quarterback 12 times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach McDermott said. “I don’t like that statistic at all. It’s just not a healthy way to play and it’s not a smart way to keep our field general in good shape for the rest of the season. We’ve got to play better.”

Allen was sluggish to rise after a sack in the first half. He said he was OK and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being hit so many times during the game.

It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I encountered a few personally. I’ve got to be more effective at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I found myself going backwards.”

The Bills' QB surrendered 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half sacks to top the Houston defense. His second one came when he nearly took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and Anderson rose and pursued him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt early in the third.

The Bills competed for a second straight game absent receiver Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was late to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was earlier benched for the first series of a loss to New England in Week 5 after also being delayed for a meeting.

No change. We are taking it day by day,” the coach said. “I thought he had a better week, but we’re handling it step by step. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the guys that provide the best chance.”

Khalil Shakir topped the Bills with eight receptions for 110 receiving yards and Cook had 116 yards and a score.

The quarterback was disappointed that the team couldn’t execute down the stretch.

In the end, we must perform, and we didn’t do a good job of that this evening,” he said. “Whatever scenario and whatever condition, we’ve got to find a way, and we came up short.”