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

And still he nearly managed to willing the Buffalo Bills to a win before an interception in the final minute ended their hopes in a close defeat.

The quarterback took consecutive sacks on the Bills’ final possession, leading to a long fourth down, but Buffalo (7-4) picked up significant yardage on a quick throw from Allen to Josh Palmer, who flipped a backward pass to Khalil Shakir.

After a false-start penalty led to a fourth down situation for Buffalo, a Texans defender intercepted the quarterback's pass at the 9-yard line with under half a minute left.

“We had a chance to win it there at the end,” Allen stated. “Our team performed a solid job of staying in it and our defense bailed us out a few instances. We’ve got find a way, and we didn’t.”

It was tough for the signal-caller to get anything going on a evening he was sacked a personal-worst on eight occasions and pressured four other times. The QB passed for 253 passing yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after producing six touchdowns in a win over the Buccaneers last week.

“When they hit our QB 12 times, I don’t like that,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “I don’t like that stat at all. It’s just not a safe way to play and it isn't a smart way to preserve our field general in good shape for the rest of the season. We’ve got to play better.”

Allen was sluggish to rise after a tackle in the opening two quarters. He said he was fine and that his left shoulder “went a little numb” after he landed on it in an awkward manner. He was questioned about being hit so many times during the game.

“It’s not fun,” he remarked. “I encountered a few myself. I’ve got to be more effective at disposing of the football. Too many times, I found myself going backwards.”

The Bills' QB lost 70 total yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Will Anderson Jr. had 2.5 tackles for loss to lead the Texans. His second one occurred when he nearly took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he escaped and the defender rose and chased him across the field to tackle him for an 18-yard deficit to result in a punt early in the third.

Buffalo played for a second straight game without receiver Coleman after he was again a healthy scratch after he was late to a squad gathering before their previous contest. He was previously benched for the first series of a defeat to the Patriots in the fifth week after also being late for a team session.

No change. We’re just approaching it day by day,” McDermott said. “I felt he had a better week, but we’re handling it step by step. It was not that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the guys that give us the best chance.”

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

The quarterback was frustrated that the Bills were unable to execute in crucial moments.

In the end, we’ve got perform, and we didn’t do a good job of that this evening,” he concluded. “Whatever situation and whatever condition, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we came up short.”