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Little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a tough game Thursday night versus the Texans.

Yet he nearly managed to driving the Buffalo Bills to a win before an interception in the last moments sealed their fate in a close loss.

The quarterback took back-to-back tackles for loss on the team's last drive, leading to a fourth-and-27, but the Bills (7-4) gained significant yardage on a quick throw from Josh Allen to a receiver, who tossed a lateral to Khalil Shakir.

Following a false-start penalty created a fourth-and-6 for the Bills, Calen Bullock intercepted Allen’s throw at the 9-yard line with 24 seconds remaining.

“We had a chance to come out on top there at the conclusion,” Josh Allen said. “We did a solid job of hanging tough and our defense bailed us out a couple of times. We must find a way, and we didn’t.”

Proved tough for the signal-caller to get anything going on a night he was sacked a personal-worst on eight occasions and pressured four additional instances. Allen threw for 253 yards with two interceptions and zero scores after accounting for six touchdowns in a victory over Tampa Bay last week.

Whenever they pressure our QB 12 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 compete and it isn't a smart way to preserve our field general healthy for the rest of the season. We need to play better.”

Josh Allen was slow to get up after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He said he was OK and that his shoulder “went a little numb” after he fell on it awkwardly. He was questioned about being contacted so frequently on Thursday.

“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I encountered a few personally. I need to be more effective at disposing of the football. Too many times, I found myself losing ground.”

The Bills' QB lost 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Anderson had two and a half tackles for loss to lead the Houston defense. Another sack came when he nearly took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and Anderson got up and chased him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard deficit to force a punt early in the third.

Buffalo played for a second consecutive matchup absent receiver Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a team meeting before their last game. He was earlier benched for the opening drive of a loss to the Patriots in Week 5 after also being late for a team session.

No change. We are taking it day by day,” the coach noted. “I felt he had a better week, but we’re taking it one day at a time. It was not that it was ignored, but we went with the guys that give us the optimal opportunity.”

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

Allen was frustrated that the team couldn’t execute in crucial moments.

In the end, we’ve got execute, and we didn’t succeed of that this evening,” he said. “No matter the situation and any condition, we need to find a way, and we came up short.”