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Very little went well for the Bills' quarterback in a disappointing game on Thursday evening against the Texans.

And still he nearly managed to willing the Bills to a win before an late pick in the last moments sealed their fate in a close loss.

The quarterback endured back-to-back sacks on the team's last drive, leading to a long fourth down, but the Bills (7-4) gained 44 yards on a quick throw from Josh Allen to a receiver, who tossed a lateral to Khalil Shakir.

After a false-start penalty led to a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, Calen Bullock picked off Allen’s pass at the Houston 9 with under half a minute remaining.

We possessed a chance to win it there at the end,” Allen said. “We did a solid job of staying in it and our defensive unit saved us a few instances. We’ve got find a way, and unfortunately we failed.”

Proved difficult for Allen to establish rhythm on a evening he was brought down a career-high eight times and hit four other times. Allen threw for 253 yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after producing six touchdowns in a victory over the Buccaneers the previous week.

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

Josh Allen was sluggish to rise after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was fine and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was asked about being contacted so frequently on Thursday.

It's unpleasant,” he said. “I ran into a few personally. I’ve got to be better at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I found myself losing ground.”

The Bills' QB surrendered 70 yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half sacks to top the Texans. Another sack occurred when he almost sacked the QB near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and Anderson got up and pursued him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt early in the third.

Buffalo played for a second consecutive matchup absent receiver Keon Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was late to a squad gathering before their last game. He was earlier held out for the first series of a loss to New England in Week 5 after additionally being delayed for a meeting.

No change. We’re just taking it day by day,” McDermott noted. “I thought he had a improved week, but we’re handling it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we went with the players that give us the best chance.”

Khalil Shakir led the Bills with eight catches for 110 yards and Cook had 116 yards and a score.

Allen was disappointed that the Bills couldn’t execute down the stretch.

“Ultimately, we’ve got perform, and we didn’t succeed of that this evening,” he concluded. “No matter the scenario and whatever circumstance, we’ve got to find a way, and we came up short.”