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Very little clicked for the Bills' quarterback in a frustrating game on Thursday evening versus the Houston Texans.

And still he nearly managed to willing the Buffalo Bills to a win before an late pick in the final minute sealed their fate in a close loss.

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

Following a pre-snap infraction created a fourth-and-6 for Buffalo, a Texans defender picked off Allen’s throw at the 9-yard line with under half a minute remaining.

We possessed a chance to win it there at the end,” Allen said. “We did a good job of staying in it and our defensive unit saved us a few instances. We must figure it out, and we didn’t.”

Proved difficult for the signal-caller to establish rhythm on a evening he was sacked a career-high eight times and pressured four other times. Allen passed for 253 yards with a pair of picks and zero scores after producing six touchdowns in a win over Tampa Bay last week.

“When they hit our QB a dozen times, that's unacceptable,” Bills coach Sean McDermott commented. “I disapprove of that stat at all. It is not a healthy way to compete and it isn't a good way to preserve our quarterback healthy for the remaining games. We’ve got to improve our performance.”

Allen was sluggish to get up after a tackle in the first half. 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 contacted so frequently during the game.

It's unpleasant,” he remarked. “I ran into a couple myself. I need to be more effective at throwing the ball away. Too many times, I was going backwards.”

Allen lost 70 yards on the eight quarterback takedowns. Anderson had 2.5 sacks to top the Texans. Another sack occurred when he nearly took Allen down near the line of scrimmage, but he wriggled away and the defender got up and chased him downfield to drop him for an 18-yard loss to result in a punt in the third quarter.

Buffalo played for a second consecutive matchup absent wideout Keon Coleman after he was once more a healthy scratch after he was tardy to a team meeting before their previous contest. He was earlier held out for the opening drive of a defeat to the Patriots in the fifth week after additionally being late for a team session.

No change. We are approaching it day by day,” McDermott said. “I felt he had a improved week, but we are handling it one day at a time. It wasn’t that it wasn’t thought about, but we went with the players that give us the optimal opportunity.”

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

The quarterback was frustrated that the Bills were unable to make plays down the stretch.

“Ultimately, we’ve got perform, and we failed to succeed of that this evening,” he concluded. “Whatever scenario and whatever condition, we’ve got to discover a solution, and we came up short.”