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Little clicked for Josh Allen in a tough contest Thursday night versus the Houston Texans.

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

The quarterback endured back-to-back sacks on the team's last drive, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (7-4) picked up significant yardage on a short pass from Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a lateral to Khalil Shakir.

Following a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, Calen Bullock picked off Allen’s pass at the Houston 9 with under half a minute left.

“We had a chance to win it there at the end,” Josh Allen said. “Our team performed a good job of staying in it and our defense saved us a couple of times. We’ve got find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”

Proved tough for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a evening he was sacked a personal-worst eight times and pressured four additional instances. The QB threw for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after accounting for six touchdowns in a victory over Tampa Bay last week.

“When they pressure our quarterback 12 times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott said. “I don’t like that stat at all. It’s just not a healthy way to compete and it isn't a good way to keep our field general in good shape for the rest of the season. We need to improve our performance.”

Josh Allen was sluggish to rise after a tackle in the first half. He indicated he was OK and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being contacted so frequently on Thursday.

It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I ran into a few myself. I’ve got to be better at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I was losing ground.”

Allen lost 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half tackles for loss to top the Texans. His second one came when he almost sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and Anderson got up and pursued him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt early in the third.

The Bills competed for a second consecutive matchup absent receiver Keon Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was previously benched for the opening drive of a loss to the Patriots in the fifth week after additionally being delayed for a team session.

“Nothing new. We’re just approaching it one day at a time,” the coach said. “I thought he had a improved week, but we’re handling it step by step. It was not that it was ignored, but we went with the players that provide the optimal opportunity.”

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

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

In the end, we must perform, and we failed to do a good job of that this evening,” he said. “No matter the scenario and whatever condition, we’ve got to find a way, and we came up short.”