# 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. This was the sixth consecutive season in which the team missed the playoffs.
Mike Mularkey coached the Bills for his second year.

## 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."
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

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 |
| 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 ||||||

### 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 |

## Schedule

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.
| Week | Date | Opponent | Result | Record | Attendance |
| 1 | September 11 | Houston Texans | W 22–7 | 1–0 | 71,781 |
| 2 | September 18 | at Tampa Bay Buccaneers | L 3–19 | 1–1 | 64,777 |
| 3 | September 25 | Atlanta Falcons | L 16–24 | 1–2 | 72,032 |
| 4 | October 2 | at New Orleans Saints (San Antonio) | L 7–19 | 1–3 | 58,688 |
| 5 | October 9 | Miami Dolphins | W 20–14 | 2–3 | 72,160 |
| 6 | October 16 | New York Jets | W 27–17 | 3–3 | 72,045 |
| 7 | October 23 | at Oakland Raiders | L 17–38 | 3–4 | 42,779 |
| 8 | October 30 | at New England Patriots | L 16–21 | 3–5 | 68,756 |
| 9 | Bye | Bye | Bye | Bye | Bye |
| 10 | November 13 | Kansas City Chiefs | W 14–3 | 4–5 | 72,093 |
| 11 | November 20 | at San Diego Chargers | L 10–48 | 4–6 | 65,602 |
| 12 | November 27 | Carolina Panthers | L 9–13 | 4–7 | 71,440 |
| 13 | December 4 | at Miami Dolphins | L 23–24 | 4–8 | 72,051 |
| 14 | December 11 | New England Patriots | L 7–35 | 4–9 | 71,810 |
| 15 | December 17 | Denver Broncos | L 17–28 | 4–10 | 71,887 |
| 16 | December 24 | at Cincinnati Bengals | W 37–27 | 5–10 | 65,485 |
| 17 | January 1 | at New York Jets | L 26–30 | 5–11 | 76,822 |
| Note: Intra-divisional games are in bold text. ||||||

## Standings

AFC East :
| viewtalkedit | 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

| 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