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Little clicked for Josh Allen in a disappointing contest Thursday night versus the Houston Texans.

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

The quarterback endured back-to-back tackles for loss on the team's last drive, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (with seven wins) picked up 44 yards on a quick throw from Allen to a receiver, who tossed a backward pass to another teammate.

After a false-start penalty created a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, a Texans defender intercepted the quarterback's throw at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds left.

“We had a opportunity 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 must figure it out, and unfortunately we failed.”

Proved tough for the signal-caller to get anything going on a evening he was brought down a personal-worst eight times and pressured four additional instances. Allen threw for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after producing six touchdowns in a victory over Tampa Bay the previous week.

“When they pressure our quarterback a dozen times, I don’t like that,” Buffalo's head coach McDermott said. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It is not a safe way to play and it isn't a good way to keep our field general in good shape for the rest of the season. We need to play better.”

Josh Allen was slow to rise after a sack in the opening two quarters. He said he was fine and that his shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was asked about being contacted so frequently during the game.

“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I encountered a couple personally. I’ve got to be more effective at disposing of the football. On multiple occasions, I was losing ground.”

The Bills' QB lost 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 tackles for loss to lead the Texans. Another sack came when he almost sacked the QB near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and Anderson rose and chased him across the field to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt early in the third.

Buffalo competed 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 previous contest. He was earlier held out for the first series of a loss to New England in Week 5 after also being delayed for a team session.

“Nothing new. We’re just taking it one day at a time,” the coach noted. “I thought he had a better week, but we are taking it one day at a time. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the players that give us the best chance.”

Khalil Shakir topped the Buffalo with eight catches for 110 yards and James Cook had 116 rushing yards and a touchdown.

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

“Ultimately, we must perform, and we failed to do a good job of that this evening,” he said. “Whatever scenario and any condition, we’ve got to find a way, and we didn’t.”