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

And still he came close to driving the Bills to a win before an interception in the last moments ended their hopes in a 23-19 defeat.

Allen took consecutive tackles for loss on the Bills’ last drive, leading to a long fourth down, but Buffalo (with seven wins) gained 44 yards on a short pass from Allen to a receiver, who tossed a lateral to another teammate.

After a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth down situation for Buffalo, Calen Bullock intercepted Allen’s pass at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds left.

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

Proved difficult for Allen to get anything going on a night he was sacked a career-high on eight occasions 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 hit our QB a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It is not a safe way to compete and it isn't a smart way to keep our quarterback in good shape for the remaining games. We need to play better.”

Allen was slow to rise after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He indicated he was OK and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being hit so many times during the game.

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

Allen lost 70 yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half tackles for loss to top the Texans. His second one occurred when he almost sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and Anderson got up and chased him downfield to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt in the third quarter.

Buffalo played for a second straight game absent wideout Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was tardy to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was previously benched for the opening drive of a defeat to New England in Week 5 after additionally being delayed for a meeting.

No change. We’re just approaching it one day at a time,” the coach said. “I thought he had a improved week, but we are handling it one day at a time. It was not that it was ignored, but we opted for the players that provide the optimal opportunity.”

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

Allen was disappointed that the team couldn’t make plays in crucial moments.

In the end, we’ve got execute, and we failed to do a good job of that tonight,” he concluded. “No matter the situation and whatever condition, we’ve got to find a way, and we came up short.”