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Little went well for the Bills' quarterback in a tough game on Thursday evening versus the Houston Texans.

Yet he nearly managed to driving the Buffalo Bills to a win before an interception in the last moments ended their hopes in a close defeat.

The quarterback took consecutive tackles for loss on the team's last drive, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (with seven wins) gained significant yardage on a quick throw from Allen to a receiver, who flipped a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.

Following a pre-snap infraction created a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, a Texans defender intercepted the quarterback's throw at the Houston 9 with under half a minute left.

We possessed a chance to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Allen said. “Our team performed a solid job of hanging tough and our defensive unit saved us a couple of times. We’ve got figure it out, and we didn’t.”

Proved tough for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a evening he was sacked a career-high eight times and hit four additional instances. Allen passed for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after accounting for six touchdowns in a victory over Tampa Bay the previous week.

Whenever they pressure our quarterback 12 times, that's unacceptable,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott said. “I don’t like that stat at all. It is not a safe way to compete and it isn't a good way to keep our quarterback healthy for the rest of the season. We’ve got to improve our performance.”

Allen was sluggish to rise after a sack in the first half. He indicated he was OK and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being hit so many times on Thursday.

It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I ran into a couple myself. I need to be more effective at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I found myself going backwards.”

Allen lost 70 total yards on the eight sacks. Anderson had two and a half tackles for loss to lead the Houston defense. His second one occurred when he almost sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and the defender rose and chased him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt in the third quarter.

The Bills competed for a second consecutive matchup absent wideout Coleman after he was once more a non-participant after he was late to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was earlier held out for the first series of a loss to the Patriots in the fifth week after also being delayed for a meeting.

No change. We’re just taking 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 was ignored, but we opted for the guys that provide the best chance.”

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

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

“Ultimately, we must perform, and we didn’t do a good job of that tonight,” he concluded. “No matter the scenario and any condition, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”