The 2003 Buffalo Bills season was their 44th in the

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

. The team failed to improve upon their previous season's output of 8–8, and finished at 6–10. 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 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 ...

(They would not win another game against the Patriots until

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

). This was a revenge game for newly-signed safety

Lawyer Milloy Lawyer Marzell Milloy (born November 14, 1973) is an American former professional football player who was a safety in the National Football League (NFL) for fifteen seasons. He played college football for the Washington Huskies, and earned Al ...

, who had been cut by New England a few days earlier. It was their largest margin of victory in a season opener since

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

, and their first regular-season shutout in four years. The Bills' second game was a convincing three-touchdown win over the

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The team play ...

. 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 New England Patriots – the complete reverse of the score by which the Bills beat New England in Week One. Head coach

Gregg Williams Gregg Williams (born July 15, 1958) is an American football coach. He most recently served as the defensive coordinator for the New York Jets of the National Football League (NFL) from 2019 to 2020. Previously, he was head coach of the Buff ...

' contract was not renewed after the 2003 season.

Van Miller Van Miller (November 22, 1927 – July 17, 2015) was an American radio and television sports announcer from Dunkirk, New York, where he began his career at Dunkirk radio station WFCB calling play-by-play for high school football games. In the 1 ...

, 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 The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Raide ...

defensive tackle

Sam Adams Samuel Adams ( – October 2, 1803) was an American statesman, political philosopher, and a Founding Father of the United States. He was a politician in colonial Massachusetts, a leader of the movement that became the American Revolution, and ...

, former

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquart ...

safety

Izell Reese Izell Reese (born May 7, 1974) is a former professional American football safety in the National Football League (NFL) for the Dallas Cowboys, Buffalo Bills, and Denver Broncos. He played college football at the University of Alabama at Birming ...

, former

Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division, and play their home ga ...

linebacker

Jeff Posey Jeffery Lavell Posey (born August 14, 1975) is a former American football linebacker in the National Football League (NFL). He was signed by the San Francisco 49ers as an undrafted free agent in 1998. He played college football at Southern Miss ...

and former

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The c ...

linebacker

Takeo Spikes Takeo Gerard Spikes (; born December 17, 1976) is a former American football linebacker who played in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for Auburn University. He was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals 13th overall in ...

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

Rian Lindell Rian David Lindell (born January 20, 1977) is a former American football placekicker in the National Football League for the Seattle Seahawks, Buffalo Bills and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He played college football at Washington State. Early years ...

during the offseason. During the preseason, the Bills signed

after he was released by the

NFL Draft

The Bills traded away their first pick in the 2003 draft (#14 overall) to the

for Drew Bledsoe in the previous draft. They obtained their first pick (#23 overall) from the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The Falcons joined th ...

in exchange for

Peerless Price Peerless LeCross Price (born October 27, 1976) is a former American football wide receiver who played nine seasons in the National Football League (NFL). Price played college football for the University of Tennessee Volunteers and was drafte ...

Roster

Schedule

Season summary

Week 1

* Source:''
Pro-Football-Reference.com

Week 2

Drew Bledsoe Drew McQueen Bledsoe (born February 14, 1972) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons, primarily with the New England Patriots. He played college football at Washington State, whe ...

19/25, 314 Yds *

Eric Moulds Eric Shannon Moulds (born July 17, 1973) is a former American football wide receiver who played 12 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for Mississippi State University and was drafted by the Buffalo Bills 24 ...

7 Rec, 133 Yds Pro-Football-Reference.com
Retrieved 2018-Nov-04.

Standings

References

Buffalo Bills seasons

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

Buff Buff or BUFF may refer to: People * Buff (surname), a list of people * Buff (nickname), a list of people * Johnny Buff, ring name of American world champion boxer John Lisky (1888–1955) * Buff Bagwell, a ring name of American professional ...

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