| Team: | Buffalo Bills |
| Year: | 2015 |
| Record: | 8–8 |
| Division Place: | 3rd AFC East |
| Coach: | Rex Ryan |
| General Manager: | Doug Whaley |
| Owner: | Terry and Kim Pegula |
| Stadium: | Ralph Wilson Stadium |
| Playoffs: | Did not qualify |
| Pro Bowlers: | RB LeSean McCoy QB Tyrod Taylor C Eric Wood OG Richie Incognito |
| Uniform: | File:Buffalo Bills Uniforms 2015-2020.png |
| Shortnavlink: | Bills seasons |
The 2015 Buffalo Bills season was the franchise’s 56th overall season as a football team, 46th in the National Football League (NFL), third under leadership of general manager Doug Whaley and first under new head coach Rex Ryan. It was also the first full season under the ownership of Terry and Kim Pegula (who also own the Buffalo Sabres), having purchased the Bills partway through 2014 after the death of longtime owner Ralph Wilson in March at the age of 95.
The Bills began their season with an open competition for the starting quarterback position after Kyle Orton, the starter for most of the 2014 campaign, retired during the offseason, so the team acquired free agent Tyrod Taylor, a former backup quarterback of the Baltimore Ravens, who won the competition over incumbent second-string quarterback EJ Manuel and trade acquisition Matt Cassel, the latter of whom the team later traded along with a seventh-round pick in 2017 to the Dallas Cowboys, in exchange for a fifth-round draft pick in 2017.
Despite Ryan's bold prediction of the Bills making the playoffs at his introductory press conference, the Bills were unable to do so in their first season with Ryan as head coach, finishing with a record of 8-8 (the team’s first since 2002), making it the 16th straight season without a playoff appearance, which became the longest active in major professional sports after Major League Baseball’s Toronto Blue Jays broke their 22-year playoff drought on September 25, 2015.[1]
The Bills made headlines when they hired a new head coach in Rex Ryan, who signed a five-year, $27.5 million contract on January 12, 2015 after having previously spent the past six seasons coaching the division-rival New York Jets. Ryan had led the Jets to two straight AFC Championship games in 2009 and 2010 before his firing in 2014. He became the 18th head coach in Bills history and the fifth in the past seven years in the process. Ryan replaced Doug Marrone, who opted out of his contract on December 31, 2014 in order to take advantage of a contract loophole.[2]
| Position | Player | 2014 Team | Date signed | Notes and references | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OG | No Team | February 8, 2015 | 1-year/$2.25 million | ||
| DE | March 9, 2015 | 5-years/$45 million | |||
| FB | March 11, 2015 | 4-years/$9.2 million | |||
| WR | March 12, 2015 | 4-years/$7 million | |||
| DE | March 12, 2015 | 2-years/$2.2 million | |||
| QB | March 12, 2015 | 2-years/$7 million | |||
| WR | March 13, 2015 | 3-years/$24 million | |||
| TE | March 19, 2015 | 5-years/$38 million | |||
| DE | May 4, 2015 | 1-year | |||
| FB | May 13, 2015 | 1-year/$745,000 | |||
| QB | May 29, 2015 | 1-year/$585,000 |
| Position | Player | 2015 Team | Date signed | Notes and references | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CB | March 10, 2015 | 4-years/$24 million | |||
| TE | March 10, 2015 | 3-years/$9.1 million | |||
| RB | March 13, 2015 | 4-years/$18 million | |||
| TE | March 13, 2015 | 2-years/$5.3 million | |||
| OT | March 14, 2015 | 2-years/$4.7 million | |||
| LB | April 9, 2015 | 1-year/$745,000 | |||
| OT | April 15, 2015 | 1-year | |||
| LB | May 18, 2015 | 1-year (Released June 8, 2015) |
| Player/picks acquired | From | Date traded | Player/picks traded | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 10, 2015 | Kiko Alonso | |||
| Matt Cassel Minnesota’s 2015 6th Round Pick | March 10, 2015 | Grady Jarrett Buffalo’s 2016 7th Round Pick | ||
| Dallas’ 2017 5th Round Pick | September 25, 2015 | Matt Cassel Buffalo’s 2017 7th Round Pick |
See main article: 2015 NFL draft.
Notes
| Week | Date | Opponent | Result | Record | Game site | NFL.com recap | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | August 14 | Carolina Panthers | L 24–25 | 0–1 | Ralph Wilson Stadium | Recap | |
| 2 | August 20 | at Cleveland Browns | W 11–10 | 1–1 | FirstEnergy Stadium | Recap | |
| 3 | August 29 | Pittsburgh Steelers | W 43–19 | 2–1 | Ralph Wilson Stadium | Recap | |
| 4 | September 3 | at Detroit Lions | L 10–17 | 2–2 | Ford Field | Recap |
| Week | Date | Opponent | Result | Record | Game site | NFL.com recap | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | September 13 | Indianapolis Colts | W 27–14 | 1–0 | Ralph Wilson Stadium | Recap | ||
| 2 | September 20 | New England Patriots | L 32–40 | 1–1 | Ralph Wilson Stadium | Recap | ||
| 3 | September 27 | at Miami Dolphins | W 41–14 | 2–1 | Sun Life Stadium | Recap | ||
| 4 | October 4 | New York Giants | L 10–24 | 2–2 | Ralph Wilson Stadium | Recap | ||
| 5 | October 11 | at Tennessee Titans | W 14–13 | 3–2 | Nissan Stadium | Recap | ||
| 6 | October 18 | Cincinnati Bengals | L 21–34 | 3–3 | Ralph Wilson Stadium | Recap | ||
| 7 | October 25 | at Jacksonville Jaguars | L 31–34 | 3–4 | Wembley Stadium | Recap | ||
| 8 | Bye | |||||||
| 9 | November 8 | Miami Dolphins | W 33–17 | 4–4 | Ralph Wilson Stadium | Recap | ||
| 10 | at New York Jets | W 22–17 | 5–4 | MetLife Stadium | Recap | |||
| 11 | at New England Patriots | L 13–20 | 5–5 | Gillette Stadium | Recap | |||
| 12 | November 29 | at Kansas City Chiefs | L 22–30 | 5–6 | Arrowhead Stadium | Recap | ||
| 13 | December 6 | Houston Texans | W 30–21 | 6–6 | Ralph Wilson Stadium | Recap | ||
| 14 | December 13 | at Philadelphia Eagles | L 20–23 | 6–7 | Lincoln Financial Field | Recap | ||
| 15 | December 20 | at Washington Redskins | L 25–35 | 6–8 | FedExField | Recap | ||
| 16 | December 27 | Dallas Cowboys | W 16–6 | 7–8 | Ralph Wilson Stadium | Recap | ||
| 17 | January 3, 2016 | New York Jets | W 22–17 | 8–8 | Ralph Wilson Stadium | Recap | ||
See also: 2015 Indianapolis Colts season.
The Bills franchise reached the 400th career win in its history[3] with a 27-14 win over the Colts. Running backs Karlos Williams, LeSean McCoy and quarterback Tyrod Taylor combined for 137 rushing yards and a touchdown (Anthony Dixon added another on the ground) and Taylor completed 14/19 for 195 yards and a touchdown. Colts quarterback Andrew Luck had two touchdowns, but he was intercepted and sacked twice.In a statistical anomaly, back-up quarterback Matt Cassel was credited with the win, as the Bills lined up for their first offensive play in a novelty formation with Cassel under center and Tyrod Taylor split out as a receiver. This made Cassel the starting quarterback of record, although it his only play of the game and he did not attempt either a pass or run.
See also: 2015 New England Patriots season.
With the close loss, the Bills dropped to 1-1. As if the loss wasn't bad enough, the team also lost safety Aaron Williams for the season with a neck injury sustained trying to keep Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski from reaching the end zone.
See also: 2015 Miami Dolphins season.
After leading 27-0, Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill finally threw two touchdowns, but his three interceptions, one of which a pick-six returned by linebacker Preston Brown 43 yards for a touchdown, proved to be too much as the Bills improved to 2-1.
See also: 2015 New York Giants season.
With their third straight loss to the Giants dating back to 2007, the Bills dropped to 2-2.
See also: 2015 Tennessee Titans season.
With the win, the Bills improved to 3-2.
See also: 2015 Cincinnati Bengals season.
With their third straight loss to the Bengals dating back to 2011, the Bills dropped to 3-3.
See also: 2015 Jacksonville Jaguars season.
This was the Bills’ first game in London since 1991. Sadly, with the stunning loss, the Bills dropped to 3-4 heading into the bye week, marking the first time they had been under .500 all season.
See also: 2015 Miami Dolphins season.
With the win, not only did the Bills improve to 4-4, but they swept Miami for the first time since 2013.
See also: 2015 New York Jets season.
Rex Ryan made his return to MetLife Stadium for the first time since the Jets fired him after the 2014 season. The Bills wore their red Nike “color rush” uniforms. With 0:18 remaining, Jets quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick attempted a comeback, but a game-saving interception by Bills safety Bacarri Rambo sealed the 22-17 victory over the Jets. With the win, the Bills improved to 5-4.
This was the debut for NFL Color Rush uniforms, with the Bills in all red and the Jets in all kelly green. The uniforms were indistinguishable to those with red-green color blindness, creating controversy.[4]
See also: 2015 New England Patriots season.
With yet another close loss, the Bills dropped to 5-5.
See also: 2015 Kansas City Chiefs season.
With the loss, the Bills dropped to 5-6.
See also: 2015 Houston Texans season.
With the win, not only did the Bills improve to 6-6, they remained in the wild card race. It's also the Bills first win against the Texans since 2006.
See also: 2015 Philadelphia Eagles season.
LeSean McCoy made his return to Philadelphia for the first time since the Eagles traded him in the offseason. McCoy was seen kissing the Eagles logo, but did not stick around to interact with his former teammates or coach Chip Kelly.
See also: 2015 Washington Redskins season.
With the loss, not only did the Bills drop to 6-8, but they were officially eliminated from playoff contention for the 16th consecutive season.[5]
See also: 2015 Dallas Cowboys season.
With the win, the Bills improved to 7-8 heading into the season finale.
See also: 2015 New York Jets season.
Prior to the game, the team called for paid volunteers to help shovel snow out of Ralph Wilson Stadium.[6] Former Bills quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick made his first return to Buffalo since being cut after the 2012 season, hoping to clinch a playoff spot for his new team with a win. Despite the Jets setting various team records, the Bills ultimately pulled out a win to close the season at 8-8 for the first time since 2002 in their final regular season game before Ralph Wilson Stadium was renamed New Era Field the following summer, not only keeping the Jets out of the playoffs for a fifth straight year, but helping the Pittsburgh Steelers reach the playoffs. As a thank you gift of sorts, the Steelers sent the Bills a care package of Primanti Brothers sandwiches.