1996 Buffalo Bills season

1996 Buffalo Bills season
Owner	Ralph Wilson
General manager	John Butler
Head coach	Marv Levy
Home field	Rich Stadium
Results
Record	10–6
Division place	2nd AFC East
Playoff finish	Lost Wild Card Playoffs (Jaguars) 27–30
Uniform
File:AFC-Throwback-Uniform-BUF.PNG

The 1996 Buffalo Bills season was their 37th in the league. The team matched their previous season's record of 10–6 and qualified for the playoffs, for the second consecutive season and eighth time in nine seasons. It was the final season for All-Pro QB Jim Kelly as he retired after the Playoff loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Preseason

NFL Draft

Main article: 1996 NFL Draft

Mississippi Statewide receiver Eric Moulds went on to be the second-leading receiver in Bills history (behind only Andre Reed), with 675 catches for 9,096 yards. He was elected to three Pro Bowls, in 1998, 2000 and 2002.

= Pro Bowler

Round	Pick	Player	Position	School/Club Team
1	24	Eric Moulds	Wide Receiver	Mississippi State
2	53	Gabe Northern	Defensive end	LSU
3	87	Matt Stevens	Strong safety	Appalachian State
4	120	Sean Moran	Defensive end	Colorado State
5	156	Ray Jackson	Defensive back	Colorado State
6	196	Leon Neal	Running back	Washington
6	202	Dusty Zeigler	Center	Notre Dame
7	237	Dan Bradenburg	Defensive end	Indiana State
7	244	Jay Riemersma	Tight end	Michigan
7	249	Eric Smedley	Defensive back	Indiana

Roster

1996 Buffalo Bills roster

Quarterbacks (QB) 15 Todd Collins 12 Jim Kelly Running backs (RB) 34 Thurman Thomas 33 Tim Tindale FB Wide receivers (WR) 88 Quinn Early 80 Eric Moulds 83 Andre Reed Tight ends (TE)

Offensive linemen (OL) Defensive linemen (DL)

Linebackers (LB) Defensive backs (DB) {{{defensive_back}}} Special teams

Rookies in italics

Preseason Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Attendance	Venue
1	August 2, 1996	Washington Redskins	L 7–17	46,141	Rich Stadium
2	August 8, 1996	at Minnesota Vikings	W 35–12	36,297	Metrodome
3	August 17, 1996	at Carolina Panthers	W 24–0	unknown	Ericsson Stadium
4	August 23, 1996	Baltimore Ravens	L 14–37	51,905	Rich Stadium

Regular Season Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Network	TV Time (ET)	Attendance	Notes
1	September 1, 1996	at New York Giants	W 23–20 (OT)	TNT	8:00pm	74,218	The Bills erased a 20–7 Giants lead.
2	September 8, 1996	New England Patriots	W 17–10	NBC	1:00pm	78,104	The Bills won on a last-second goal line stand.
3	September 16, 1996	at Pittsburgh Steelers	L 24–6	ABC	9:00pm	59,002	The Steelers had 382 yards of offense.
4	September 22, 1996	Dallas Cowboys	W 10–7	FOX	4:00pm	78,098	Troy Aikman was intercepted in the final minute.
5	Bye
6	October 6, 1996	Indianapolis Colts	W 16–13	NBC	4:00pm	79,401	The Bills put up 422 yards of offense.
7	October 13, 1996	Miami Dolphins	L 21–7	NBC	1:00pm	79,642	Dan Marino did not play and Terrell Buckley had a pick-six in the final minutes.
8	October 20, 1996	at New York Jets	W 25–22	NBC	4:00pm	49,775	The Bills outscored the Jets 16–7 in the fourth quarter.
9	October 27, 1996	at New England Patriots	L 28–25	TNT	8:00pm	58,858	Both teams combined for three touchdowns in the final 85 seconds
10	November 3, 1996	Washington Redskins	W 38–13	FOX	4:00pm	78,002	The first Redskins loss since Week One.
11	November 10, 1996	at Philadelphia Eagles	W 24–17	NBC	1:00pm	66,613	Jim Kelly threw for 112 yards.
12	November 17, 1996	Cincinnati Bengals	W 31–17	NBC	1:00pm	75,549	The Bills defense had 4 interceptions.
13	November 24, 1996	New York Jets	W 35–10	NBC	1:00pm	60,854	Frank Reich had one touchdown for Jets but Eric Moulds ran the ensuing kickoff back for a touchdown.
14	December 1, 1996	at Indianapolis Colts	L 13–10	NBC	1:00pm	53,804	The loss ended a four-game winning streak.
15	December 8, 1996	at Seattle Seahawks	L 26–18	NBC	4:00pm	41,373	The Seahawks were limited to ten first downs.
16	December 16, 1996	at Miami Dolphins	L 16–14	ABC	9:00pm	67,016	The Dolphins ended a three-game losing streak.
17	December 22, 1996	Kansas City Chiefs	W 20–9	NBC	1:00pm	68,671	The Bills made the playoffs and the Chiefs failed to make the playoffs for the first time in the decade.

Game summaries

Week 1

1 2 3 4 OT Total • Bills 0 7 10 3 3 23 Giants 3 14 3 0 0 20 Date: September 1 Location: Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey Game start: 8:00 p.m. Game weather: 72°F, wind 9 mph

Scoring summary 1 NYG Brad Daluiso 22 yard field goal Giants 3–0 2 NYG Amani Toomer 87 yard punt return (Brad Daluiso kick) Giants 10–0 2 NYG Charles Way 37 yard pass from Dave Brown (Brad Daluiso kick) Giants 17–0 2 BUF Thurman Thomas 1 yard run (Steve Christie kick) Giants 17–7 3 NYG Brad Daluiso 34 yard field goal Giants 20–7 3 BUF Steve Christie 28 yard field goal Giants 20–10 3 BUF Andre Reed 60 yard pass from Jim Kelly (Steve Christie kick) Giants 20–17 4 BUF Steve Christie 39 yard field goal Tie 20–20 OT BUF Steve Christie 34 yard field goal Bills 23–20

Week 2

The Bills upended the Patriots 17–10. Quinn Early caught a 63-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter for Buffalo, then the Bills stopped the Patriots inside their five-yard line in the final seconds.

Week 3

The Bills' first Monday Night appearance ended in ugly fashion as the Steelers erupted to more rushing yards (222 with two touchdowns from ex-Ram Jerome Bettis) than the Bills had total yards of offense (185). Carnell Lake picked off Jim Kelly and ran back a 47-yard score, part of a 24–6 Steelers win.

Week 4

The Bills hosted the defending Super Bowl champs who were 1–2 and fell to 1–3 as Buffalo rushed for 135 yards and a Thurman Thomas score while intercepting Troy Aikman three times; the last came in the final minute, and Aikman was tackled awkwardly by Bruce Smith, necessitating a Monday examination of his ankle.

Week 5

Bye week

Week 6

The Bills hosted the Colts and clawed to a 10-3 lead in the second behind Todd Collins. Marshall Faulk's touchdown in the fourth tied the game; an exchange of field goals put the game into overtime tied 13-13 where Steve Christie won it from 39 yards out.

Week 7

Craig Erickson started for Dan Marino and the Dolphins led 14–7 late in the fourth on scores by Irving Spikes and Karim Abdul-Jabbar. Kelly completed a deep pass to Andre Reed and Reed was stopped at the 1-yard line by Terrell Buckley; the Dolphins held the Bills on the first three downs and Kelly was flagged for intentional grounding, forcing 4th and goal from the 11; Kelly's pass was picked off by Buckley at the 9 and Buckley ran back a 91-yard score. Reacting to fan booing after the 21–7 loss, a disconsolate Kelly said, "We deserved to be booed."

Week 8

The Bills traveled to face the 0–7 New York Jets and kicker Steve Christie had a major workload as he booted five field goals to support a Darick Holmes score and to offset three touchdowns by ex-Bill Frank Reich (two to Keyshawn Johnson, one to Wayne Chrebet) and a two-point conversion to Kyle Brady. Christie's sixth field goal finished off a 25–22 Bills win.

Week 9

On Sunday Night the Bills traveled to Foxboro Stadium and the ensuing game left them tied with the Patriots and Colts for the AFC East lead at 5–3. After trailing 13–0 the Bills clawed back despite a safety given up on an endzone penalty against Jim Kelly; the Bills led 18–15 in the fourth. With 1:25 to go Curtis Martin scored but Adam Vinatieri missed the PAT. Kelly was then intercepted by Willie McGinest and McGinest ran back a 46-yard score, but the Bills on a 48-yard score to Andre Reed pulled to within 28–25 with 30 seconds left; the ensuing onside kick was recovered by ex-Dolphin recently signed by the Patriots Keith Byars.

Week 10

The Bills hosted the Washington Redskins and Darick Holmes had the game of his career as the Bills rushed for 266 yards (outgaining the entirety of the Skins offense by 28 yards) and five scores, four of them by Holmes. The Bills reached 6–3 with the 38–13 win while the Skins' seven-game winning streak crashed to a halt.

Week 11

The Bills finished the NFC East portion of their schedule by upending the Eagles 24–17. Despite being outgained in total yards (385 to 252) the Bills forced two Eagles fumbles and also scored on a blocked punt.

Week 12

The 4-6 Bengals came to Rich Stadium on a three-game winning streak after the firing of David Shula and promotion of Bruce Coslet to head coach. The Bills didn't care as they rushed for 134 yards and touchdowns from Jim Kelly and Thurman Thomas; the Bills led 31-7 in the fourth as the Bengals scored ten points, but could get no further as Buffalo won 31-17.

Week 13

The Bills hosted the 1–11 Jets and erupted to a 28–3 lead by the fourth quarter; after a Frank Reich touchdown to Jeff Graham the Bills scored again on Eric Moulds' 97-yard kickoff return. The 35–10 win left the Bills at 9–3 entering a three-game road trip.

Week 14

Starting a three-game road trip, the Bills traveled to Indianapolis where despite 307 yards of offense fell to the Colts 13-10 in overtime. Todd Collins started and was intercepted twice as the Colts forced overtime and won on Cary Blanchard's 49-yard field goal.

Week 15

The Bills traveled to the Kingdome where Seahawks kicker Todd Peterson booted four field goals while Kelly and Todd Collins combined for two touchdowns and three interceptions. Buffalo's five turnovers were key as Rick Mirer won 26-18 despite only nine completions of 23 attempts.

Week 16

On Monday Night Football Buffalo's three-game road trip came up empty as the Bills fell to the Dolphins at Joe Robbie Stadium. Joe Nedney booted three field goals and Dan Marino had one touchdown. Jim Kelly had two scores but was picked off once. I was the first time the Bills had been swept by the Dolphins since 1986.

Week 17

The Bills hosted the Chiefs with both teams needing the win to make the playoffs. Steve Bono was harassed all game long and held to just 138 yards with two picks. Jim Kelly rallied the Bills from down 9-6 with two touchdowns. The 20-9 win put the Bills into the playoffs as the AFC Wildcard home team while the Chiefs failed to reach the playoffs for the first time in the decade; it was Kansas City's fourth loss in the last five meetings with Buffalo.

Playoffs

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Attendance
Wild Card	December 28, 1996	Jacksonville Jaguars	L 30–27	70,213

The first ever playoff game for the second-year Jaguars saw the game lead tie or change nine times. Natrone Means rushed for 175 yards and a touchdown while Mark Brunell threw for 239 yards, a score, and two interceptions; in the fourth Jeff Burris ran back a 38-yard score off a Brunell pick. The Jaguars rallied with two fourth-quarter scoring drives ending in a 45-yard field goal from future Bills kicker Mike Hollis. The game turned out to be the last home playoff game for the Bills entering 2017.

Standings

AFC East
	W	L	T	PCT	PF	PA	STK
(2) New England Patriots	11	5	0	.688	418	313	W1
(4) Buffalo Bills	10	6	0	.625	319	266	W1
(6) Indianapolis Colts	9	7	0	.563	317	334	L1
Miami Dolphins	8	8	0	.500	339	325	W2
New York Jets	1	15	0	.063	279	454	L7