2011 Buffalo Bills season

2011 Buffalo Bills season
Head coach	Chan Gailey
General manager	Buddy Nix
Owner	Ralph Wilson
Home field	Ralph Wilson Stadium
Results
Record	6-10
Division place	4th AFC East
Playoff finish	did not qualify
Pro Bowlers	none
Timeline
Previous season      Next season < 2010      2012

The 2011 Buffalo Bills season was the team's 42nd season in the National Football League and its 52nd overall. The Bills improved on their 4-12 record from the 2010 season, winning six games; however, the team also missed the playoffs for the twelfth consecutive season; the team has not made the playoffs since 1999, the longest standing playoff drought in the NFL. Buffalo played in the Eastern division of the American Football Conference (AFC).

In week 3 of the season, the Bills broke a 15-game losing streak that the team had accrued against the New England Patriots that dated to opening day of the 2003 season; Buffalo defeated the Patriots, 34–31. In doing so, the 2011 Bills became the only team since before 1950 (when comprehensive statistical record keeping began) to win two consecutive games in which they trailed by 18 or more points; they overcame a 21-3 deficit to Oakland in Week Two, and a 21-0 deficit to New England in Week Three.

Incidentally, Buffalo's loss to the Cincinnati Bengals the following week was the Bills' first loss to Cincinnati since the 1988 AFC Championship game; that streak had been the longest winning streak by one team over another after Buffalo snapped their losing streak to New England.

The Bills started the season with a 5-2 record, positioned to make the playoffs, before losing eight of their final nine games, eliminating them from the playoffs.

Wide receiver Stevie Johnson set a franchise mark as the only receiver in Bills history to record two consecutive 1,000-yard seasons. No other Bills receiver—including Andre Reed, James Lofton, Eric Moulds or Lee Evans—had done so with Buffalo. Buffalo's offense only surrendered 23 sacks all season, the fewest in the NFL.

Key Injuries

The Bills started the season with a promising 5-2 record. However, the remainder of the Bills' season was plagued by injuries to key starters, including linebacker Shawne Merriman, center Eric Wood, cornerback Terrence McGee, star nose tackle Kyle Williams (as well as backup Torell Troup), and star running back Fred Jackson, all of whom were placed on injured reserve to end their respective seasons.

The Bills also lost two wide receivers that did not contribute significantly during the 2011 season, Marcus Easley and Roscoe Parrish, to IR (the former missing his second full season, the latter coming off a strong 2010 season), and two kickers, incumbent starter Rian Lindell and replacement Dave Rayner; the Bills were compelled to sign a third-string kicker, Brandon Coutu, for the final game of the 2011 season against New England. Rookie Marcell Dareus also admitted to playing much of the season with numerous injuries, but continued to stay on the field out of a personal obligation to the team. Starting quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick also sustained an undisclosed injury in the middle of the season, but was never listed on the injury report (nor was the injury ever specified), and Fitzpatrick continued to play the rest of the season.

Strong start, weak finish

After a dominating Week Eight shutout win over Washington in Toronto, Buffalo suffered a seven-game losing streak to the New York Jets (twice), Dallas Cowboys, Miami Dolphins (twice), Tennessee Titans and San Diego Chargers. The Week Fourteen loss to San Diego eliminated the team from postseason contention. (With the Detroit Lions earning a playoff spot in Week 16, and the Houston Texans winning the AFC South in 2011, the Bills have sole possession of the NFL's longest current playoff drought, at twelve and counting.) The 2011 losing streak was eventually broken by defeating the Denver Broncos on Christmas Eve, a game that was blacked out in Western New York due to poor ticket sales.

In the first seven games of the season (of which the Bills won five), the Bills had a +9 turnover differential (18 takeaways, 9 giveaways); from Week Nine until the end of the season, the Bills gave the ball away 21 times, with only 12 takeaways. Quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick started the season strongly, posting a 97.8 passer rating and a 14/7 touchdown-interception ratio through the first seven games; in the final nine games, Fitzpatrick threw ten touchdowns, and 16 interceptions, with a 66.5 quarterback rating in that span. His 23 total interceptions were the most thrown by any quarterback in the league in 2011. He threw only 5 interceptions total in the Bills' six wins, and 18 in their ten losses. Bills wide receiver David Nelson stated that Fitzpatrick was injured by Redskins linebacker London Fletcher in Week Eight, the last win before the losing streak began. Said Nelson, "A lot of people don't know, but Fitz during the Washington game actually cracked a couple of ribs. So after that, he was playing hurt."

Offseason

Uniform change

On February 9, 2011, the Bills announced that the team planned to introduce redesigned uniforms for the 2011 season. No details were given on what the uniforms would look like, but it was said that the charging buffalo logo would be kept. Later reports leaked by a Madden NFL 12 trailer, and said to be confirmed by the league, indicated the team would be adopting the uniforms the team wore between 1975 and 1983. It was also announced that an official unveiling of the new uniforms would be at a fan appreciation event later in the summer. The uniforms were unveiled on June 24, 2011. The team also announced that the U.S. military will be involved in the unveiling.

Due to the 2011 NFL lockout that ran from March 11–July 25, actual Bills' players were prohibited from attending the event. Instead, models from the New York National Guard, along with former Bills' Jim Kelly and Thurman Thomas, modeled the new uniforms. This is the first full redesign of the team’s uniforms since the 2002 season.

The Bills wore their white jerseys at home against the New York Jets in Week Nine.

2011 draft board

Main article: 2011 NFL Draft

Round	Selection	Player	Position	College
1	3	Marcell Dareus	DT	Alabama
2	34	Aaron Williams	CB	Texas
3	68	Kelvin Sheppard	ILB	LSU
4	100	Da'Norris Searcy	DB	UNC
4	122	Chris Hairston	OL	Clemson
5	133	Johnny White	RB	UNC
6	169	Chris White	LB	Mississippi St.
7	206	Justin Rogers	DB	Richmond
7	245	Michael Jasper	DT	Bethel (TN)

^{^[a]} The Bills acquired this fourth-round selection and a 2012 conditional draft selection in an October 2010 trade that sent RB Marshawn Lynch to the Seattle Seahawks.

^{^[b]}Compensatory selection.

Preseason

Schedule

The Bills' preseason schedule was announced on April 12, 2011.

Week	Date	Kickoff (EDT)	Opponent	Results		Game site	TV	NFL.com recap
				Final score	Team record
1	August 13	8:00 p.m.	at Chicago Bears	L 3–10	0–1	Soldier Field	WKBW-TV	Recap
2	August 20	8:30 p.m.	at Denver Broncos	L 10–24	0–2	Sports Authority Field at Mile High	WKBW-TV	Recap
3	August 27	7:00 p.m.	Jacksonville Jaguars	W 35–32 (OT)	1–2	Ralph Wilson Stadium	WKBW-TV	Recap
4	September 1	6:30 p.m.	Detroit Lions	L 6–16	1–3	Ralph Wilson Stadium	WKBW-TV	Recap

Regular season

Schedule

Week	Date	Kickoff (ET)	Opponent	Results		Game site	TV	NFL.com recap
				Final score	Team record
1	September 11	1:00 p.m.	at Kansas City Chiefs	W 41–7	1–0	Arrowhead Stadium	CBS	Recap
2	September 18	1:00 p.m.	Oakland Raiders	W 38–35	2–0	Ralph Wilson Stadium	CBS	Recap
3	September 25	1:00 p.m.	New England Patriots	W 34–31	3–0	Ralph Wilson Stadium	CBS	Recap
4	October 2	1:00 p.m.	at Cincinnati Bengals	L 20–23	3–1	Paul Brown Stadium	CBS	Recap
5	October 9	1:00 p.m.	Philadelphia Eagles	W 31–24	4–1	Ralph Wilson Stadium	Fox	Recap
6	October 16	1:00 p.m.	at New York Giants	L 24–27	4–2	MetLife Stadium	CBS	Recap
7	Bye
8	October 30	4:05 p.m. ^	Washington Redskins	W 23–0	5–2	Rogers Centre (Toronto)	Fox	Recap
9	November 6	1:00 p.m.	New York Jets	L 11–27	5–3	Ralph Wilson Stadium	CBS	Recap
10	November 13	1:00 p.m.	at Dallas Cowboys	L 7–44	5–4	Cowboys Stadium	CBS	Recap
11	November 20	1:00 p.m.	at Miami Dolphins	L 8–35	5–5	Sun Life Stadium	CBS	Recap
12	November 27	1:00 p.m.	at New York Jets	L 24–28	5–6	MetLife Stadium	CBS	Recap
13	December 4	1:00 p.m.	Tennessee Titans	L 17–23	5–7	Ralph Wilson Stadium	CBS	Recap
14	December 11	4:15 p.m.	at San Diego Chargers	L 10–37	5–8	Qualcomm Stadium	CBS	Recap
15	December 18	1:00 p.m.	Miami Dolphins	L 23–30	5–9	Ralph Wilson Stadium	CBS	Recap
16	December 24	1:00 p.m.	Denver Broncos	W 40–14	6–9	Ralph Wilson Stadium	CBS	Recap
17	January 1	1:00 p.m.	at New England Patriots	L 21–49	6–10	Gillette Stadium	CBS	Recap

LEGEND:

     Royal blue indicates the Bills Toronto Series.

     Gray indicates that the game was blacked out locally due to low ticket sales.

Game summaries

Standings

AFC East
	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
z (1) New England Patriots	13	3	0	.813	5–1	10–2	513	342	W8
New York Jets†	8	8	0	.500	3–3	6–6	394	382	L3
Miami Dolphins†	6	10	0	.375	3–3	5–7	348	330	W1
Buffalo Bills†	6	10	0	.375	1–5	4–8	372	434	L1

Staff

Buffalo Bills 2011 staff
	Front Office President – Ralph Wilson CEO – Russ Brandon Executive Vice President/General Manager – Buddy Nix Senior Vice President of Football Administration – Jim Overdorf Assistant General Manager/Director of Player Personnel – Doug Whaley Director of Pro Personnel – Tom Gibbons Director of College Scouting – Chuck Cook Head Coaches Head Coach – Chan Gailey Assistant Head Coach/Inside Linebackers – Dave Wannstedt Offensive Coaches Offensive Coordinator/Running Backs – Curtis Modkins Quarterbacks – George Cortez Wide Receivers – Stan Hixon Tight Ends – Bob Bicknell Offensive Line – Joe D'Alessandris Assistant Offensive Line – Bobby Johnson Offensive Quality Control – Kevin Patullo			Defensive Coaches Defensive Coordinator – George Edwards Defensive Line – Giff Smith Outside Linebackers – Bob Sanders Defensive Backs – George Catavolos Defensive Quality Control – Adrian White Special Teams Coaches Special Teams Coordinator – Bruce DeHaven Assistant Special Teams – Stan Kwan Strength and Conditioning Head Strength and Conditioning – Eric Ciano Head Strength and Conditioning – John Gamble

Final roster

2011 Buffalo Bills roster
	Quarterbacks 14 Ryan Fitzpatrick 16 Brad Smith WR/KR  4 Tyler Thigpen Running Backs 30 Tashard Choice 38 Corey McIntyre FB 28 C. J. Spiller PR 20 Johnny White Wide Receivers 88 Kamar Aiken 80 Derek Hagan 13 Steve Johnson 82 Ruvell Martin 86 David Nelson 18 Naaman Roosevelt Tight Ends 87 Kevin Brock 84 Scott Chandler 89 Fendi Onobun		Offensive Linemen 77 Demetrius Bell T 74 Colin Brown G/T 75 Chris Hairston T 69 Michael Jasper T 67 Andy Levitre C/G 79 Erik Pears T 76 Chad Rinehart G 60 Kraig Urbik G 71 Sam Young T Defensive Linemen 92 Alex Carrington DE 99 Marcell Dareus NT/DE 97 Lionel Dotson DE 98 Dwan Edwards DE 73 Jarron Gilbert DE 72 Kellen Heard DE/NT 94 Kyle Moore DE		Linebackers 50 Nick Barnett ILB 57 Danny Batten OLB 54 Andra Davis ILB 91 Spencer Johnson OLB/DE 90 Chris Kelsay OLB/DE 52 Arthur Moats OLB 58 Kirk Morrison ILB 55 Kelvin Sheppard ILB Defensive Backs 31 Jairus Byrd FS 27 Reggie Corner CB 29 Drayton Florence CB 21 Leodis McKelvin CB 47 Joshua Nesbitt FS 26 Justin Rogers CB 43 Bryan Scott SS 25 Da'Norris Searcy SS 23 Aaron Williams CB 37 George Wilson SS Special Teams 10 Brandon Coutu K  8 Brian Moorman P 65 Garrison Sanborn LS		Reserve Lists 83 Mike Caussin TE (IR) -- Jon Corto FS (IR) 81 Marcus Easley WR (IR) 36 Bruce Hall RB (IR) 22 Fred Jackson RB (IR) 19 Donald Jones WR (IR)  9 Rian Lindell K (IR) 24 Terrence McGee CB (IR) 56 Shawne Merriman OLB (IR) 11 Roscoe Parrish WR (IR)  3 Dave Rayner K (IR) 85 Lee Smith TE (IR) 53 Reggie Torbor ILB/OLB (IR) 96 Torell Troup NT (IR) 51 Chris White ILB (IR) 95 Kyle Williams NT (IR) 70 Eric Wood C (IR) Practice Squad 48 Robert Eddins OLB 15 David Gilreath WR 46 Doyle Miller CB 44 Prince Miller CB 93 Jay Ross NT 17 Tim Toone WR 62 Jake Vermiglio G 68 Keith Williams G Rookies in italics 53 Active, 17 Inactive, 8 Practice Squad