2003 Buffalo Bills season

2003 Buffalo Bills season
Owner	Ralph Wilson
General manager	Tom Donahoe
Head coach	Gregg Williams
Home field	Ralph Wilson Stadium
Results
Record	6–10
Division place	3rd AFC East
Playoff finish	Did not qualify
Pro Bowlers	G Ruben Brown OLB Takeo Spikes

Quarterback Drew Bledsoe meets families of deceased soldiers, September 7, 2003

The 2003 Buffalo Bills season was their 44th in the league. The team failed to improve upon their previous season's output of 8–8, and finished at 6–10.^[1] The team missed the playoffs for the fourth consecutive season.

The Bills started the season strong, opening the season with a dominating 31–0 blowout of the New England Patriots.^{[note 1]} This was a revenge game for newly signed safety Lawyer Milloy, who had been cut by New England a few days earlier. It was their largest margin of victory in a season opener since 1992, and their first regular-season shutout in four years.^[2] The Bills' second game was a convincing three-touchdown win over the Jacksonville Jaguars. But Buffalo lost seven of their next nine games and finished the season with three consecutive losses. The Bills' final game of the season was a 31–0 shutout loss to the Patriots – the complete reverse of the score by which the Bills beat New England in Week One.

Head coach Gregg Williams' contract was not renewed after the 2003 season.^{[note 2]}

Van Miller, the team's longtime play-by-play announcer, announced his retirement after week 2 of the season; his retirement took effect at the end of the season.

Offseason

Free agency

The Bills bolstered their defense by signing former Oakland Raiders defensive tackle Sam Adams, former Denver Broncos safety Izell Reese, former Houston Texans linebacker Jeff Posey and former Cincinnati Bengals linebacker Takeo Spikes during the offseason.

The Bills also traded for tight end Mark Campbell and signed kicker Rian Lindell during the offseason.

During the preseason, the Bills signed Lawyer Milloy after he was released by the New England Patriots.

NFL draft

Main article: 2003 NFL draft

The Bills traded away their first pick in the 2003 draft (#14 overall) to the New England Patriots for Drew Bledsoe in the previous draft. They obtained their first pick (#23 overall) from the Atlanta Falcons in exchange for Peerless Price.

2003 Buffalo Bills draft
Round	Pick	Player	Position	College	Notes
1	23	Willis McGahee *	RB	Miami (FL)	Pick from ATL
2	48	Chris Kelsay	DE	Nebraska
3	94	Angelo Crowell	LB	Virginia
4	111	Terrence McGee *	CB	Northwestern State
4	127	Sam Aiken	WR	North Carolina
5	151	Ben Sobieski	OG	Iowa
6	187	Lauvale Sape	DT	Utah
7	228	Mario Haggan	LB	Mississippi State
Made roster    †   Pro Football Hall of Fame    *   Made at least one Pro Bowl during career

Roster

2003 Buffalo Bills roster

Quarterbacks (QB) 11 Drew Bledsoe  5 Travis Brown 10 Alex Van Pelt Running backs (RB) 35 Joe Burns 33 Sam Gash FB 20 Travis Henry 21 Willis McGahee 31 Sammy Morris KR 30 Ken Simonton Wide receivers (WR) 86 Antonio Brown KR/PR 85 Clarence Coleman 80 Eric Moulds 82 Josh Reed 81 Bobby Shaw Tight ends (TE) 84 Mark Campbell 83 Dave Moore 88 Ryan Neufeld

Offensive linemen (OL) 79 Ruben Brown G 73 Marcus Price T 61 Mike Pucillo G 60 Bernard Robertson T 64 Ben Sobieski T 74 Marques Sullivan G/T 70 Trey Teague C 65 Ross Tucker G 68 Mike Williams T Defensive linemen (DL) 95 Sam Adams DT 97 Justin Bannan DT 92 Ryan Denney DE 90 Chris Kelsay DE 91 Keith McKenzie DE 66 Lauvale Sape DT 94 Aaron Schobel DE 93 Pat Williams DT

Linebackers (LB) 55 Angelo Crowell OLB 59 London Fletcher MLB 53 Mario Haggan MLB 52 DaShon Polk OLB 96 Jeff Posey OLB 51 Takeo Spikes OLB 57 Josh Stamer OLB 50 Dominique Stevenson MLB Defensive backs (DB) 22 Nate Clements CB/PR 24 Terrence McGee CB/KR 36 Lawyer Milloy SS 23 Pierson Prioleau FS 37 Dainon Sidney CB 28 Kevin Thomas CB 26 Antoine Winfield CB 27 Coy Wire FS Special teams 54 Jon Dorenbos LS  9 Rian Lindell K  8 Brian Moorman P

Practice squad 16 Cedric Bonner WR 15 Jerel Myers WR 71 David Porter T 76 Richard Seals DT 49 Rod Trafford TE Reserve 89 Sam Aiken WR (IR) -- Gary Byrd T (IR) 98 Ron Edwards DT (IR) 75 Jonas Jennings T (IR) 43 Izell Reese S (IR) Rookies in italics 53 active, 5 reserve, 5 practice squad

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	TV Time	Attendance	Record
1	September 7	New England Patriots	W 31–0	CBS 1:00et	73,262	1–0
2	September 14	at Jacksonville Jaguars	W 38–17	CBS 1:00et	58,613	2–0
3	September 21	at Miami Dolphins	L 7–17	ESPN 8:30et	73,458	2–1
4	September 28	Philadelphia Eagles	L 13–23	FOX 1:00et	73,305	2–2
5	October 5	Cincinnati Bengals	W 22–16(OT)	CBS 1:00et	72,615	3–2
6	October 12	at New York Jets	L 3–30	CBS 4:15et	77,740	3–3
7	October 19	Washington Redskins	W 24–7	FOX 4:15et	73,149	4–3
8	October 26	at Kansas City Chiefs	L 5–38	ESPN 8:30et	78,689	4–4
9	Bye
10	November 9	at Dallas Cowboys	L 6–10	CBS 4:15et	63,770	4–5
11	November 16	Houston Texans	L 10–12	CBS 1:00et	72,677	4–6
12	November 23	Indianapolis Colts	L 14–17	CBS 1:00et	73,004	4–7
13	November 30	at New York Giants	W 24–7	CBS 1:00et	78,481	5–7
14	December 7	New York Jets	W 17–6	CBS 4:15et	72,791	6–7
15	December 14	at Tennessee Titans	L 26–28	CBS 1:00et	68,809	6–8
16	December 21	Miami Dolphins	L 3–20	CBS 1:00et	73,319	6–9
17	December 27	at New England Patriots	L 0–31	CBS 1:30et	68,436	6–10
Note: Intra-divisional opponents are in bold text.

Season summary

Week 1

1 2 3 4 Total Patriots 0 0 0 0 0 • Bills 7 14 0 10 31 Date: September 7 Location: Ralph Wilson Stadium, Orchard Park, New York Game start: 1:04 p.m. EST Elapsed time: 3:13 Game attendance: 73,262 Game weather: 64 °F (17.8 °C), wind 11 mph (18 km/h; 9.6 kn) Referee: Jeff Triplette TV announcers (CBS): Verne Lundquist, Dan Dierdorf, and Bonnie Bernstein Source: Pro-Football-Reference.com

Scoring summary 1 Bills Travis Henry 1 yard run (Rian Lindell kick) Bills 7–0 2 Bills Dave Moore 7 yard pass from Drew Bledsoe (Rian Lindell kick) Bills 14–0 2 Bills Sam Adams 37 yard interception return (Rian Lindell kick) Bills 21–0 4 Bills Travis Henry 9 yard run (Rian Lindell kick) Bills 28–0 4 Bills Rian Lindell 44 yard field goal Bills 31–0

Week 2

1 2 3 4 Total • Bills 14 7 14 3 38 Jaguars 0 7 3 7 17 Date: September 14 Location: Alltel Stadium Game start: 1:03 p.m. EST Elapsed time: 3:06 Game attendance: 58,613 Game weather: 86 °F or 30 °C; Humidity 62%; wind 6 mph (9.7 km/h; 5.2 kn) Heat Index 92 °F or 33.3 °C Referee: Terry McAulay TV announcers (CBS): Don Criqui, Steve Tasker

Scoring summary Q1 11:17 BUF Henry 1 yard run (Lindell kick) BUF 7–0 Q1 4:50 BUF Henry 6 yard run (Lindell kick) BUF 14–0 Q2 9:29 JAX Brunell 1 yard run (Marler kick) BUF 14–7 Q2 1:37 BUF Shaw 54 yard pass from Bledsoe (Lindell kick) BUF 21–7 Q3 12:54 JAX Marler 44 yard field goal BUF 21–10 Q3 8:03 BUF Moulds 36 yard pass from Bledsoe (Lindell kick) BUF 28–10 Q3 0:59 BUF Henry 4 yard run (Lindell kick) BUF 35–10 Q4 5:11 BUF Lindell 27 yard field goal BUF 38–10 Q4 1:53 JAX Wrighster 5 yard pass from Leftwich (Marler kick) BUF 38–17

• Drew Bledsoe 19/25, 314 Yds
• Eric Moulds 7 Rec, 133 Yds

^[3]

Standings

AFC East
view talk edit	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
^(1) New England Patriots	14	2	0	.875	5–1	11–1	348	238	W12
Miami Dolphins	10	6	0	.625	4–2	7–5	311	261	W2
Buffalo Bills	6	10	0	.375	2–4	4–8	243	279	L3
New York Jets	6	10	0	.375	1–5	6–6	283	299	L2

Notes

1. They would not win another game against the Patriots until 2011
2. Williams was replaced by Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey in 2004.

References

1. "2003 Buffalo Bills". Pro Football Reference.
2. "Sweet revenge – Bills' Milloy, Bledsoe revel in 31–0 rout of Patriots". SI.com. Archived from the original on September 9, 2003.
3. "Buffalo Bills at Jacksonville Jaguars — September 14th, 2003". Pro Football Reference. Retrieved November 4, 2018.