Despite many Bills fans wanting Flutie to get the starting job after Flutie looked the better of the two QBs in camp and in preseason, Phillips named Johnson to the position. The Bills still made the playoffs as the Wild Card home team; they became the first victim of the cinderella Jacksonville Jaguars, the first visiting team ever to win a playoff game at Rich Stadium. They would not get a chance to get back to the Super Bowl—the Pittsburgh Steelers, who went on to advance to the Super Bowl, beat Buffalo in the divisional playoffs 40–21. The Bills again made the playoffs with a 10–6 record, and defeated Miami in the wild card round. The expansion Carolina Panthers ended up selecting several key Bills contributors (backup quarterback Frank Reich, wide receiver Don Beebe and tight end Pete Metzelaars) in the expansion draft, where they formed the core of that team's inaugural roster. In 1995, Buffalo signed free agent linebacker Bryce Paup to anchor the defense.
The following year — the strike-shortened season of 1982 — the Bills slipped to a 4–5 final record and missed the playoffs. They defeated the New York Jets 31–27 in the wild card round of the playoffs, but lost in the divisional round to the eventual AFC champion Cincinnati Bengals, 28–21. However, they lost to the San Diego Chargers 20–14 in the divisional playoffs. The team made the NFL playoffs at 9–5 for the first time in history in 1974, but in their divisional playoff, they lost to the eventual Super Bowl champions, the Pittsburgh Steelers. Their first season in the NFL saw the team win only three games, lose ten, and tie one. This is not true, as Young Bussey and Jack Lummus were still of playing age when they left the NFL to serve in World War II and were killed in action a few years later. He never returned; Kalsu was killed in action in 1970 and is often cited by Bills fans as the first professional football player to die in action in war during his playing career.
A turning point in that game occurred in the first quarter with the Chargers ahead 7–0 and driving, when Buffalo linebacker Mike Stratton broke up a flare pass to star Charger halfback Keith Lincoln with a well-timed, hard shot to the ribs, forcing Lincoln to leave the game. On December 14, 1963, the Bills and the New York Jets played the final game at the Polo Grounds. In the 1962 offseason, Buffalo stocked up on players that would play key roles in the successful years of the mid-1960s. Hamilton was one of the best teams in the CFL (they would go on to win the Big Four title but lose in the 49th Grey Cup that year), and Buffalo, at the time, was the worst team in the AFL. The AAFC Bills franchise was named after the Buffalo Bills, a popular barbershop quartet, whose name was a play on the name of the famed Wild West showman Buffalo Bill Cody. Before the AFL had even played a game, the NFL had responded by moving the moribund Chicago Cardinals to St. Louis, where they would share their nickname with the long-established baseball team.
As a result of the Bills' poor play in 2010, the team earned the third overall selection in the 2011 NFL draft, using it to select defensive tackle Marcell Dareus in an effort to improve the team's long-struggling run defense. Despite some close games, the Bills ended up at an 0–8 record before beating Detroit at home in Week 10. After going 0–4, the Bills released Trent Edwards and named Ryan Fitzpatrick starting quarterback. Gailey was previously the offensive coordinator of Kansas City and head coach of Georgia Tech and the Dallas Cowboys, going 8–0 in the division in 1998, and leading the team to the postseason in both 1998 and 1999. The "big three" of Chan Gailey's surprisingly efficient offense consisted of former late-round draft picks or undrafted players. The games, formally named the "Bills Toronto Series", began during the 2008 season. Brandon assumed responsibilities as de facto general manager for the next two years. J. P. Losman played all 16 games in 2006 but was benched in early 2007 in favor of Edwards.
Emmitt Smith powered the Cowboys to a 30–13 victory. The following records were set in Super Bowl XXVIII, according to the official NFL.com boxscore and the ProFootball reference.com game summary. Washington intercepted a pass from Kelly on the first play of the fourth quarter and returned it 12 yards to the Bills' 34-yard line. Bills wide receiver Russell Copeland then returned the ensuing kickoff 22 yards to the Buffalo 37-yard line, but on third down, Cowboys defensive ends Jim Jeffcoat and Charles Haley shared a 13-yard sack on Kelly to force the Bills to punt. Three plays into the third quarter, defensive tackle Leon Lett forced a fumble on Thomas, and Washington returned the ball 46 yards for a touchdown to tie the game, 13–13. They were eventually forced to punt, but Cowboys linebacker Matt Vanderbeek downed John Jett's 43-yard punt at the Bills' 1-yard line. Dallas wide receiver Kevin Williams returned the opening kickoff 50 yards to the Buffalo 48-yard line.
Centimeters to feet conversion table
The pregame show held before the game was titled "Georgia Music Makers" and featured performances by the rap music duo Kris Kross, the rock band The Georgia Satellites, country musician Charlie Daniels, and the Morehouse College Marching Band. NBC, which had held XXVII (according to the original rotation, NBC would have had XXVI and CBS XXVII, but the NFL allowed the networks to switch the two games in order to allow CBS a significant lead-in to its coverage of the 1992 Winter casino interac Olympics), was the only network to bid on XXVIII. This remains the only time a single network had held consecutive Super Bowls outright. Both had different ideas on the future personnel plans for the Cowboys, and both wanted equal credit for the team's recent success. They were distressed with Buffalo having lost the three previous Super Bowl games and did not want to see them lose again. Both Dallas and Buffalo were the top seeded teams in their respective conferences, earning home field advantage throughout the playoffs.
The first loss was the closest and the most painful. After the team reached a deal with the state of New York and Erie County after the 2022 season to construct a new stadium next to the current site, construction began afterwards with a completion date before the 2026 season. 10% of the franchise will be held by Arctos, while the remaining 10.6% will be divided among executives at Acrew Capital, Bank of America, Gridiron Capital, Meritech Capital, and Accel-KKR, along with Toronto-based professional athletes Jozy Altidore, Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady. On defense, Hamlin, after seeing limited action in 2023, rose to become the team's starting free safety in 2024, as Micah Hyde remained unsigned until deciding to return for one last season, taking a practice squad role upon his return. The approach was dubbed "Everybody Eats" in that a roster of equally talented players gave Allen a wider variety of options and would prevent the defense from keying on one star receiver. Despite another playoff loss to Kansas City, Josh Allen played well, at one point out-performing Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes until the final 13 seconds and overtime. After a week 1 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Bills won the next four games in dominant fashion, which included two shutout wins and a victory over the Chiefs, before some midseason struggles, including an upset loss to the Urban Meyer-coached Jacksonville Jaguars.