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Very little went well for the Bills' quarterback in a frustrating game Thursday night versus the Texans.

And still he came close to driving the Buffalo Bills to a victory before an interception in the final minute ended their hopes in a close loss.

Allen took consecutive tackles for loss on the team's last drive, resulting in a fourth-and-27, but Buffalo (7-4) gained 44 yards on a quick throw from Allen to a receiver, who flipped a backward pass to another teammate.

Following a pre-snap infraction led to a fourth down situation for Buffalo, a Texans defender picked off the quarterback's throw at the 9-yard line with under half a minute remaining.

“We had a chance to win it there at the conclusion,” Allen said. “Our team performed a good job of staying in it and our defensive unit saved us a couple of times. We’ve got find a way, and we didn’t.”

Proved difficult for the signal-caller to get anything going on a evening he was sacked a career-high on eight occasions and hit four other times. Allen passed for 253 passing yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns after producing six touchdowns in a win over Tampa Bay the previous week.

“When they hit our QB a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach McDermott said. “I disapprove of that statistic at all. It’s just not a safe way to compete and it isn't a smart way to keep our quarterback healthy for the rest of the season. We’ve got to improve our performance.”

Allen was sluggish to get up after a sack in the first half. He indicated he was OK and that his left shoulder “lost some feeling” after he landed on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being hit so many times during the game.

“It’s not fun,” he said. “I ran into a couple personally. I’ve got to be more effective at throwing the ball away. On multiple occasions, I was going backwards.”

Allen surrendered 70 yards on the eight sacks. Will Anderson Jr. had two and a half sacks to lead the Houston defense. Another sack came when he nearly took Allen down near the scrimmage line, but he escaped and Anderson got up and pursued him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard loss to force a punt early in the third.

Buffalo played for a second straight game absent wideout 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 the fifth week after also being late for a meeting.

No change. We’re just taking it one day at a time,” the coach noted. “I thought he had a improved week, but we’re taking it step by step. It wasn’t that it was ignored, but we opted for the guys that provide the best chance.”

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

Allen was disappointed that the Bills were unable to execute down the stretch.

“Ultimately, we must perform, and we didn’t do a good job of that tonight,” he said. “Whatever situation and any circumstance, we need to discover a solution, and we came up short.”