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Very little clicked for Josh Allen in a frustrating game on Thursday evening against the Texans.

And still he came close to driving the Buffalo Bills to a win before an late pick in the last moments sealed their fate in a 23-19 loss.

The quarterback endured back-to-back tackles for loss on the Bills’ final possession, leading to a long fourth down, but Buffalo (7-4) picked up 44 yards on a short pass from Allen to a receiver, who tossed a backward pass to another teammate.

Following a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth down situation for the Bills, Calen Bullock intercepted Allen’s throw at the 9-yard line with under half a minute remaining.

We possessed a chance to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen said. “We did a solid job of hanging tough and our defensive unit saved us a few instances. We’ve got find a way, and we didn’t.”

It was tough for the signal-caller to get anything going on a night he was sacked a personal-worst on eight occasions and hit four other times. Allen passed for 253 yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after accounting for six TDs in a win over Tampa Bay the previous week.

“When they hit our quarterback a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach Sean McDermott said. “I don’t like that stat at all. It is not a safe way to compete and it’s not a good way to keep our quarterback in good shape for the remaining games. We’ve got to play better.”

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

“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I encountered a couple personally. I need to be better at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I was losing ground.”

Allen surrendered 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had 2.5 tackles for loss to lead the Texans. Another sack came when he nearly sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he wriggled away and the defender rose and pursued him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt early in the third.

The Bills played for a second straight game absent receiver Coleman after he was again a non-participant after he was tardy to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was previously held out for the opening drive of a defeat to the Patriots in the fifth week after additionally being late for a meeting.

“Nothing new. We are approaching it day by day,” McDermott said. “I thought he had a better week, but we’re handling it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the guys that give us the best chance.”

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

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

“Ultimately, we’ve got perform, and we didn’t succeed of that this evening,” he concluded. “Whatever scenario and any condition, we’ve got to find a way, and we came up short.”