Английская Википедия:2015 Buffalo Bills season

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The 2015 Buffalo Bills season was the franchise’s 56th overall season as a football team, 46th in the National Football League, 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. Шаблон:TOC limit

Offseason

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.

Roster changes

Signings

Position	Player	2014 Team	Date signed	Notes and references
OG	Richie Incognito	No Team	February 8, 2015	1-year/$2.25 million
DE	Jerry Hughes	Buffalo Bills	March 9, 2015	5-years/$45 million
FB	Jerome Felton	Minnesota Vikings	March 11, 2015	4-years/$9.2 million
WR	Marcus Easley	Buffalo Bills	March 12, 2015	4-years/$7 million
DE	Jarius Wynn	Buffalo Bills	March 12, 2015	2-years/$2.2 million
QB	Tyrod Taylor	Baltimore Ravens	March 12, 2015	2-years/$7 million
WR	Percy Harvin	New York Jets	March 13, 2015	3-years/$24 million
TE	Charles Clay	Miami Dolphins	March 19, 2015	5-years/$38 million
DE	Alex Carrington	St. Louis Rams	May 4, 2015	1-year
FB	John Conner	New York Jets	May 13, 2015	1-year/$745,000
QB	Matt Simms	New York Jets	May 29, 2015	1-year/$585,000

Free agents lost

Position	Player	2015 Team	Date signed	Notes and references
CB	Da’Norris Searcy	Tennessee Titans	March 10, 2015	4-years/$24 million
TE	Lee Smith	Oakland Raiders	March 10, 2015	3-years/$9.1 million
RB	C. J. Spiller	New Orleans Saints	March 13, 2015	4-years/$18 million
TE	Scott Chandler	New England Patriots	March 13, 2015	2-years/$5.3 million
OL	Erik Pears	San Francisco 49ers	March 14, 2015	2-years/$4.7 million
LB	Larry Dean	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	April 9, 2015	1-year/$745,000
OT	Chris Hairston	San Diego Chargers	April 15, 2015	1-year
LB	Brandon Spikes	New England Patriots	May 18, 2015	1-year (Released June 8, 2015)

Trades

Player/picks acquired	From	Date traded	Player/picks traded
LeSean McCoy	Philadelphia Eagles	March 10, 2015	Kiko Alonso
Matt Cassel Minnesota’s 2015 6th Round Pick	Minnesota Vikings	March 10, 2015	Grady Jarrett Buffalo’s 2016 7th Round Pick
Dallas’ 2017 5th Round Pick	Dallas Cowboys	September 25, 2015	Matt Cassel Buffalo’s 2017 7th Round Pick

Draft

Notes

• The Bills did not have a selection in the first-round or fourth-round as a result of a trade that sent their 2014 first-round selection (19th overall), later revealed to be Ja’Wuan James, to the Miami Dolphins, fourth-round selection (115th overall), later revealed to be Shaquelle Evans, to the New York Jets and their first-round selection (9th overall), later revealed to be Anthony Barr, to the Cleveland Browns in a three-team trade that sent the Browns’ 2014 first-round selection (4th overall), later revealed to be Sammy Watkins, to Buffalo. The Bills acquired a fourth-round selection (113th overall), later revealed to be Gabe Wright, in a trade that sent Stevie Johnson to the San Francisco 49ers. The Bills later traded this selection to the Philadelphia Eagles in exchange for Bryce Brown. The Bills acquired a fifth-round selection (137th overall), later revealed to be Grady Jarrett, as part of a trade that sent their 2014 seventh-round selection (221st overall), later revealed to be Randell Johnson, to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Bills later traded this selection and their 2016 seventh-round selection (240th overall), later revealed to be Alex McCalister, to the Vikings in exchange for Matt Cassel and the Vikings’ 2015 sixth-round selection (188th overall), later revealed to be Tony Steward.

Schedule

Preseason

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

Regular season

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	Шаблон:Tooltip	at New York Jets	W 22–17	5–4	MetLife Stadium	Recap
11	Шаблон:Tooltip	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

Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Game summaries

Week 1: vs. Indianapolis Colts

The Bills franchise reached the 400th career win in its history 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.

Week 2: vs. New England Patriots

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.

Week 3: at Miami Dolphins

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.

Week 4: vs. New York Giants

With their third straight loss to the Giants dating back to 2007, the Bills dropped to 2-2.

Week 5: at Tennessee Titans

With the win, the Bills improved to 3-2.

Week 6: vs. Cincinnati Bengals

With their third straight loss to the Bengals dating back to 2011, the Bills dropped to 3-3.

Week 7: at Jacksonville Jaguars

NFL International Series Шаблон:Americanfootballbox

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.

Week 9: vs. Miami Dolphins

With the win, not only did the Bills improve to 4-4, but they swept Miami for the first time since 2013.

Week 10: at New York Jets

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.

Week 11: at New England Patriots

With yet another close loss, the Bills dropped to 5-5.

Week 12: at Kansas City Chiefs

With the loss, the Bills dropped to 5-6.

Week 13: vs. Houston Texans

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.

Week 14: at Philadelphia Eagles

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.

Week 15: at Washington Redskins

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.

Week 16: vs. Dallas Cowboys

With the win, the Bills improved to 7-8 heading into the season finale.

Week 17: vs. New York Jets

Prior to the game, the team called for paid volunteers to help shovel snow out of Ralph Wilson Stadium. 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.

External links

• Шаблон:Official website