The 2013 Buffalo Bills season was the franchise's 44th season in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

and the first under

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

Doug Marrone Douglas Charles Marrone (born July 25, 1964) is an American football coach and former offensive lineman who is the offensive line coach for the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League (NFL). He came to prominence as the head coach at ...

. It was also the final season under the ownership of

Ralph Wilson Ralph Cookerly Wilson Jr. (October 17, 1918 – March 25, 2014) was an American businessman and sports executive. He was best known as the founder and owner of the Buffalo Bills, a team in the National Football League (NFL). He was one of the fo ...

, who died in March 2014 at the age of 95. The team equaled their record from

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

and missed the playoffs, increasing their playoff drought to 14 seasons. This was the first year of renewed leases on

Ralph Wilson Stadium Highmark Stadium is a stadium in Orchard Park, New York, in the Southtowns of the Buffalo metropolitan area. The stadium opened in 1973 as Rich Stadium and is the home venue of the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL). It was kn ...

and for the

Bills Toronto Series The Bills Toronto Series was a series of National Football League (NFL) games featuring the Buffalo Bills played at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The original series began in the 2008 season and ran through 2012. The Bills were orig ...

, both of which were signed in the preceding offseason. The Toronto series was originally set to expire in 2017, but was cancelled in December 2014; the lease on Ralph Wilson Stadium expires in 2022 and will presumably be the last agreement with the aging stadium, as the lease specifies that the process of exploring a new stadium begins during the lease period. The Bills also started the 2013 season with a new starting quarterback, first-round draft pick

EJ Manuel Erik Rodriguez "EJ" Manuel Jr. (born March 19, 1990) is a former American football quarterback. He played college football at Florida State, leading the Seminoles to an ACC championship and Orange Bowl win in his senior year, and was drafted by t ...

, after previous starter

Ryan Fitzpatrick Ryan Joseph Fitzpatrick (born November 24, 1982) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 17 seasons. During his career, Fitzpatrick started at quarterback for nine different teams, the most ...

refused a pay cut and was subsequently released.

2013 draft

Notes : The Bills traded their first- and third-round selections (8th and 71st overall) to the

St. Louis Rams The St. Louis Rams were a professional American football team of the National Football League (NFL). They played in St. Louis from 1995 to the 2015 season, before moving back to Los Angeles, where the team had played from 1946 to 1994. The arri ...

in exchange for the Rams' first-, second-, third- and seventh-round selections (16th, 46th, 78th and 222nd overall). : The Bills traded their original seventh-round selection (214th overall) to the

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 as ...

in exchange for

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

Tarvaris Jackson Tarvaris D'Andre Jackson (April 21, 1983 – April 12, 2020) was an American football quarterback in the National Football League (NFL). Jackson played college football for both Alabama State and Arkansas. He played professionally for the ...

Staff

Final roster

Schedule

Preseason

Regular season

:Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text. : # Indicates that the game was part of the

Game summaries

Week 1: vs. New England Patriots

Stephen Gostkowski Stephen Carroll Gostkowski ( ; born January 28, 1984) is an American football former placekicker who played for 15 years in the National Football League (NFL), primarily with the New England Patriots. He was selected in the fourth round of th ...

kicked a 35-yard field goal with five seconds left to give the Patriots the win. With the loss, the Bills began the season 0–1.

Week 2: vs. Carolina Panthers

Buffalo trailed for most of their Week 2 game against the Panthers but took the lead with two seconds left after Stevie Johnson caught a 2-yard touchdown pass from EJ Manuel. Dan Carpenter kicked the extra point to give the Bills a 24–23 win. With the win, Buffalo improved to 1–1.

Week 3: at New York Jets

With the loss, the Bills fell to 1–2.

Week 4: vs. Baltimore Ravens

The Bills defense intercepted Ravens quarterback

Joe Flacco Joseph Vincent Flacco (born January 16, 1985) is an American football quarterback for the New York Jets of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Delaware after transferring from Pittsburgh and was drafted by the Baltim ...

five times in this game, as Flacco completed only 50% of his passes. Despite the five turnovers, the game was still somewhat close, but the Bills won the game 23–20. With the win, the Bills improved to 2–2.

Week 5: at Cleveland Browns

left the game for the Bills with a knee injury, and was replaced by

Jeff Tuel Jeffrey Victor Tuel (born February 12, 1991) is a former American football quarterback. He played college football for Washington State. He was signed by the Buffalo Bills as an undrafted free agent in 2013 and spent most of 2013 and 2014 as t ...

. The Bills had a 24–17 lead in the third quarter, but the Browns, who also lost quarterback

Brian Hoyer Axel Edward Brian Hoyer (born October 13, 1985) is an American football quarterback for the New England Patriots of the National Football League (NFL). Since joining the NFL in 2009 as an undrafted free agent, he has started for seven different ...

, won the game with

Brandon Weeden Brandon Kyle Weeden (born October 14, 1983) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for seven seasons. After pursuing a baseball career from 2002 to 2006, Weeden enrolled at Oklahoma State to pla ...

at the helm.

T. J. Ward Terrell Ray "T. J." Ward Jr. (born December 12, 1986) is a former American football safety who played for eight seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Oregon, and was drafted by the Cleveland Browns in the s ...

returned an interception 44 yards to seal the game. With the loss, the Bills fell to 2–3.

Week 6: vs. Cincinnati Bengals

The Bills trailed 24–10 in the fourth quarter, but came back to tie the game after

Marquise Goodwin Marquise Derell Goodwin (born November 19, 1990) is an American football wide receiver for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL). He also is an Olympic Games, Olympian who competed in the long jump in track and field. He was ...

caught a 40-yard touchdown pass from

Thad Lewis Thaddeus Cowan Lewis (born November 19, 1987) is an American football coach and former quarterback who is currently the assistant wide receivers coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL). He was signed by the St. Lo ...

and force overtime. In the extra period, the Bills got the ball first, but were forced to punt after they went three-and-out. The Bengals returned the punt 39 yards to set them up in field goal range. A couple of plays later,

Mike Nugent Michael Nugent (born March 2, 1982) is a former American football placekicker. He played college football for Ohio State University, and was twice recognized as a consensus All-American. He was drafted by the New York Jets in the second round o ...

kicked the game winning 43-yard field goal. With the tough loss, the Bills fell to 2–4.

Week 7: at Miami Dolphins

With the win, the Bills improved to 3–4.

Week 8: at New Orleans Saints

This marked the Bills' only game outside of the Eastern time zone during the 2013 season.

Week 9: vs. Kansas City Chiefs

With the loss, the Bills fell to 3–6.

Week 10: at Pittsburgh Steelers

With the loss, the Bills fell to 3–7.

Week 11: vs. New York Jets

With the win, the Bills improved to 4–7.

Week 13: vs. Atlanta Falcons

;

With the loss, the Bills fell to 4–8.

Week 14: at Tampa Bay Buccaneers

With the loss, the Bills fell to 4–9.

Week 15: at Jacksonville Jaguars

With the win, the Bills improved to 5–9, but were eliminated from playoff contention with the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team pla ...

' win over the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

Week 16: vs. Miami Dolphins

With the win, the Bills improved to 6–9. This was also the last home game that the Bills didn't sell out. Since the next game (Week 17 against the Patriots), every Bills home game has been sold out.