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Little went well for Josh Allen in a tough game on Thursday evening against the Texans.

And still he nearly managed to driving the Bills to a victory before an interception in the final minute sealed their fate in a close loss.

Allen endured back-to-back tackles for loss on the Bills’ last drive, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (7-4) gained 44 yards on a quick throw from Allen to a receiver, who tossed a lateral to another teammate.

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

“We had a chance to come out on top there at the end,” Josh Allen said. “We did a solid job of hanging tough and our defense saved us a few instances. We must figure it out, and we didn’t.”

Proved difficult for Allen to establish rhythm on a night he was sacked a personal-worst on eight occasions and hit four additional instances. The QB passed for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and zero scores 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 said. “I don’t like that stat at all. It is not a safe way to play and it’s not a smart way to keep our quarterback healthy for the remaining games. We need to improve our performance.”

Josh Allen was sluggish to get up after a sack in the opening two quarters. He said he was OK and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being hit so frequently during the game.

“It’s not fun,” 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 going backwards.”

Allen surrendered 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 sacks to top the Texans. His second one occurred when he almost sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and the defender rose and chased 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 without receiver Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a team meeting before their last game. He was previously held out for the opening drive of a defeat to the Patriots in Week 5 after additionally being late for a team session.

“Nothing new. We are taking it one day at a time,” McDermott said. “I felt he had a improved week, but we’re taking 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 optimal opportunity.”

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

Allen was frustrated that the team were unable to make plays down the stretch.

In the end, we must execute, and we failed to succeed of that this evening,” he concluded. “No matter the situation and whatever circumstance, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we didn’t.”