2005 Buffalo Bills season

The 2005 Buffalo Bills season was their 46th in the National Football League. The team was unable to improve upon their previous season's output of 9–7, instead finishing 5–11.^[1] This was the sixth consecutive season in which the team missed the playoffs.

2005 Buffalo Bills season
Owner	Ralph Wilson
General manager	Tom Donahoe
Head coach	Mike Mularkey
Home stadium	Ralph Wilson Stadium
Results
Record	5–11
Division place	3rd AFC East
Playoffs	Did not qualify
Pro Bowlers	P Brian Moorman LS Mike Schneck
← 2004 Bills seasons 2006 →

Mike Mularkey coached the Bills for his second year.^{[note 1]}

Offseason

Drew Bledsoe, who had been the team's quarterback from 2002 to 2004, was released by the Bills after the 2004 season to make way for backup quarterback J. P. Losman. It was the second time that Bledsoe's team had let him go for a younger quarterback. When Bledsoe was later signed by the Dallas Cowboys, he expressed bitterness with the Bills for the move, stating "I can't wait to go home and dress my kids in little stars and get rid of the other team’s [Buffalo’s] stuff."^[2]

The Bills failed to re-sign defensive tackle Pat Williams, who would sign with the Minnesota Vikings for the 2005 season. The Bills also lost starting offensive tackle Jonas Jennings to the San Francisco 49ers.

Draft

Main article: 2005 NFL draft

Buffalo had six draft picks in the 2005 draft. The Bills traded their only first round pick in 2005 to the Dallas Cowboys to move up in the previous draft, a pick they used to draft J. P. Losman.

2005 Buffalo Bills draft
Round	Pick	Player	Position	College	Notes
2	55	Roscoe Parrish	WR	Miami (FL)
3	86	Kevin Everett	TE	Miami (FL)
4	122	Duke Preston	C	Illinois
5	156	Eric King	CB	Wake Forest
6	197	Justin Geisinger	OG	Vanderbilt
7	236	Lionel Gates	RB	Louisville
Made roster    †   Pro Football Hall of Fame    *   Made at least one Pro Bowl during career

^[3]

Undrafted free agents

2005 undrafted free agents of note

Player	Position	College
Brad Cieslak	Tight end	Northern Illinois
Liam Ezekiel	Linebacker	Northeastern
Jim Leonhard	Safety	Wisconsin

Personnel

Staff

2005 Buffalo Bills staff

Front office Owner/founder – Ralph Wilson President/general manager – Tom Donahoe Assistant general manager – Tom Modrak Director of pro personnel – John Guy Coordinator of college scouting – Doug Majeski Head coaches Head coach – Mike Mularkey Offensive coaches Offensive coordinator – Tom Clements Quarterbacks – Sam Wyche Running backs – Eric Studesville Wide receivers – Tyke Tolbert Tight ends – Mike Miller Offensive line – Jim McNally Offensive line – Frank Verducci

Defensive coaches Defensive coordinator – Jerry Gray Defensive line – Tim Krumrie Linebackers – Don Blackmon Defensive backs – Steve Szabo Defensive assistant – Chuck Lester Special teams coaches Special teams – Bobby April Strength and conditioning Strength and conditioning coordinator – Brad Roll Assistant strength and conditioning – John Allaire

Roster

2005 Buffalo Bills roster

Quarterbacks (QB) 10 Kelly Holcomb  7 J. P. Losman  6 Shane Matthews Running backs (RB) 35 Joe Burns 25 Lionel Gates 44 Jon Goldsberry FB 21 Willis McGahee 31 Daimon Shelton FB 20 Shaud Williams Wide receivers (WR) 89 Sam Aiken 83 Lee Evans 80 Eric Moulds 11 Roscoe Parrish KR/PR 82 Josh Reed 19 Jonathan Smith KR/PR 15 George Wilson Tight ends (TE) 84 Mark Campbell 48 Brad Cieslak TE 87 Tim Euhus

Offensive linemen (OL) 66 Bennie Anderson G 69 Mike Gandy T 73 Justin Geisinger G 76 Greg Jerman G 79 Dylan McFarland T 71 Jason Peters T 75 Duke Preston C 70 Trey Teague C 58 Chris Villarrial G 68 Mike Williams G/T Defensive linemen (DL) 95 Sam Adams DT 77 Tim Anderson DT 97 Justin Bannan DT 92 Ryan Denney DE 99 Jason Jefferson DT 90 Chris Kelsay DE 94 Aaron Schobel DE

Linebackers (LB) 55 Angelo Crowell OLB 50 Liam Ezekiel MLB 59 London Fletcher MLB 53 Mario Haggan OLB 96 Jeff Posey OLB 57 Josh Stamer OLB Defensive backs (DB) 26 Rashad Baker FS 22 Nate Clements CB/PR 33 Jabari Greer CB 29 Eric King CB 42 Jim Leonhard SS 24 Terrence McGee CB/KR 36 Lawyer Milloy SS 23 Troy Vincent FS Special teams (ST)  9 Rian Lindell K  8 Brian Moorman P 54 Mike Schneck LS

Practice squad 67 LaWaylon Brown DT 60 Jasen Esposito T 40 Wendell Hunter LB 39 Rob Lee CB 72 Marques Ogden T 91 Eric Powell DE Reserve 98 Ron Edwards DE (IR) 85 Kevin Everett TE (IR) 88 Ryan Neufeld TE (IR) 72 Lawrence Smith G (IR) 93 Lauvale Sape DT (IR) 51 Takeo Spikes LB (IR) 28 Kevin Thomas CB (PUP) 27 Coy Wire S (IR) Rookies in italics 53 active, 8 reserve, 6 practice squad

Regular season

In addition to their regular games with AFC East rivals, the Bills played teams from the AFC West and NFC South as per the schedule rotation, and also played intraconference games against the Bengals and the Texans based on divisional positions from 2004.

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance	Recap
1	September 11	Houston Texans	W 22–7	1–0	Ralph Wilson Stadium	71,781	Recap
2	September 18	at Tampa Bay Buccaneers	L 3–19	1–1	Raymond James Stadium	64,777	Recap
3	September 25	Atlanta Falcons	L 16–24	1–2	Ralph Wilson Stadium	72,032	Recap
4	October 2	at New Orleans Saints	L 7–19	1–3	Alamodome	58,688	Recap
5	October 9	Miami Dolphins	W 20–14	2–3	Ralph Wilson Stadium	72,160	Recap
6	October 16	New York Jets	W 27–17	3–3	Ralph Wilson Stadium	72,045	Recap
7	October 23	at Oakland Raiders	L 17–38	3–4	McAfee Coliseum	42,779	Recap
8	October 30	at New England Patriots	L 16–21	3–5	Gillette Stadium	68,756	Recap
9	Bye
10	November 13	Kansas City Chiefs	W 14–3	4–5	Ralph Wilson Stadium	72,093	Recap
11	November 20	at San Diego Chargers	L 10–48	4–6	Qualcomm Stadium	65,602	Recap
12	November 27	Carolina Panthers	L 9–13	4–7	Ralph Wilson Stadium	71,440	Recap
13	December 4	at Miami Dolphins	L 23–24	4–8	Dolphins Stadium	72,051	Recap
14	December 11	New England Patriots	L 7–35	4–9	Ralph Wilson Stadium	71,810	Recap
15	December 17	Denver Broncos	L 17–28	4–10	Ralph Wilson Stadium	71,887	Recap
16	December 24	at Cincinnati Bengals	W 37–27	5–10	Paul Brown Stadium	65,485	Recap
17	January 1	at New York Jets	L 26–30	5–11	Giants Stadium	76,822	Recap

Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Standings

AFC East
view talk edit	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
(4) New England Patriots	10	6	0	.625	5–1	7–5	379	338	L1
Miami Dolphins	9	7	0	.563	3–3	7–5	318	317	W6
Buffalo Bills	5	11	0	.313	2–4	5–7	271	367	L1
New York Jets	4	12	0	.250	2–4	3–9	240	355	W1

Season summary

Week 1 vs Texans

Week One: Houston Texans (0–0) at Buffalo Bills (0–0)

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
Texans	0	7	0	0	7
Bills	6	13	0	3	22

at Ralph Wilson Stadium, Orchard Park, New York

• Date: September 11, 2005
• Game time: 1:00 p.m. EDT
• Game weather: Sunny, 75 °F or 23.9 °C
• Game attendance: 71,781
• Referee: Ron Winter
• TV announcers (CBS): Gus Johnson, Brent Jones
• Box Score

Game information

First quarter BUF – Rian Lindell 35-yard field goal, 9:24. Bills 3–0. Drive: 10 plays, 65 yards, 5:36. BUF – Rian Lindell 21-yard field goal, 1:43. Bills 6–0. Drive: 9 plays, 63 yards, 5:45. Second quarter BUF – Rian Lindell 42-yard field goal, 13:57. Bills 9–0. Drive: 4 plays, 9 yards, 1:09. BUF – Rian Lindell 39-yard field goal, 11:07. Bills 12–0. Drive: 4 plays, 6 yards, 2:34. HOU – David Carr 1-yard run (Kris Brown kick). Bills 12–7. Drive: 12 plays, 75 yards, 4:30. BUF – Jason Peters 1-yard pass from J. P. Losman (Rian Lindell kick), 0:29. Bills 19–7. Drive: 11 plays, 61 yards, 6:08. Third quarter No scoring Fourth quarter BUF – Rian Lindell 31-yard field goal, 7:11. Bills 22–7. Drive: 6 plays, 10 yards, 2:31. Top passers HOU – David Carr – 9/21, 70 yards, 3 INT BUF – J. P. Losman – 17/28, 170 yards, TD Top rushers HOU – Domanick Williams – 17 rushes, 48 yards BUF – Willis McGahee – 22 rushes, 117 yards Top receivers HOU – Mark Bruener – 1 reception, 19 yards BUF – Lee Evans – 3 receptions, 68 yards

• The Bills wore throwback AFL "standing buffalo" helmets
• J. P. Losman 1st career start

Notes

1. Second of two total years; Mularkey would resign from the Bills after the 2005 season