The 2020 season was the Buffalo Bills' 61st as a franchise, 51st in the National Football League (NFL), the sixth full season under the ownership of Terry and Kim Pegula and fourth under the head coach/general manager tandem of Sean McDermott and Brandon Beane. After acquiring players such as Stefon Diggs, Mario Addison, and A. J. Klein during the offseason, the Bills offense, led by quarterback Josh Allen, took another step forward, scoring an at the time franchise-record 501 points and leading the Bills to 13 wins in the regular season, and their first playoff wins and first AFC Championship appearance of the 21st century.
The Bills began the season strong with a 4–0 start, their first since 2008. Despite two straight losses afterwards, with both of their games during their losing streak postponed due to a COVID-19 outbreak within the Tennessee Titans' organization, the Bills won 9 of their final 10 games, with their only loss during that span being the "Hail Murray" game against the Arizona Cardinals, to finish on a six-game winning streak with a 13–3 record, improving on their 10–6 record from 2019 and tying the franchise record set in the Super Bowl seasons of 1990 and 1991.
In addition to returning to the playoffs for the third time in four years after previously going 17 consecutive seasons without a playoff appearance, the team won the AFC East division title for the first time since 1995 (during the Marv Levy/Jim Kelly era) after a 48–19 win over the Denver Broncos in Week 15, becoming only the second team other than the 2008 Miami Dolphins to win the division over the New England Patriots since the New York Jets in . Not only did they sweep the Patriots for the first time since , but the Bills swept their entire division for the first time in franchise history. They also qualified for the playoffs in consecutive years for the first time since 1998 and 1999 (during the Wade Phillips/Doug Flutie era), which was also the last time the Bills had back-to-back double-digit-win seasons. This was the first of five straight AFC East titles for the Bills.
The #2 seed Bills began their playoff run in the Wild Card Round against the #7 seed Indianapolis Colts, winning 27–24 for their first playoff victory since 1995. After this, they defeated the #5 seed Baltimore Ravens 17–3 in the Divisional Round, advancing to their first AFC Championship Game since 1993, where they faced the #1 seed and defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs, who they coincidentally faced in their last AFC Championship Game appearance. The Bills would lose 38–24.AFC Championship loss still on Bills' minds, Spectrum News 1, January 19, 2022
The Bills would not make another AFC Championship game appearance until 2024. Coincidentally, the Bills would face the Chiefs in the AFC Championship that year as well.
Draft
2020 Buffalo Bills draft Draft order Player name Position College Contract Notes Round Selection 1 22 Traded to the Minnesota Vikings 2 54 A. J. Epenesa DE Iowa 3 86 Zack Moss RB Utah 4 128 Gabe Davis WR UCF 5 155 Traded to the Minnesota Vikings From Browns 167 Jake Fromm QB Georgia 6 188 Tyler Bass K Georgia Southern From Browns 201 Isaiah Hodgins WR Oregon State 207 Traded to the Minnesota Vikings From Ravens via Patriots 7 236 Traded to the Cleveland Browns 239 Dane Jackson CB Pittsburgh From Vikings
Draft trades
Undrafted free agents 2020 Buffalo Bills Undrafted Free Agents Name Position College Ref. Trey Adams OT Washington Ike Brown CB FIU Reggie Gilliam FB Toledo Marquel Harrell G Auburn Garrett Taylor S Penn State Josh Thomas Appalachian State Brandon Walton OT Florida Atlantic Antonio Williams RB North Carolina
Staff
Final roster
Preseason The Bills' preseason schedule was announced on May 7, 2020, but was later cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Week Date Opponent Venue Result 1 at Baltimore Ravens M&T Bank Stadium Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic 2 Atlanta Falcons Bills Stadium 3 Indianapolis Colts Bills Stadium 4 at Detroit Lions Ford Field
Regular season
Schedule The Bills' 2020 schedule was announced on May 7. Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Recap 1 September 13 New York Jets W 27–17 1–0 Bills Stadium Recap 2 September 20 at Miami Dolphins W 31–28 2–0 Hard Rock Stadium Recap 3 September 27 Los Angeles Rams W 35–32 3–0 Bills Stadium Recap 4 October 4 at Las Vegas Raiders W 30–23 4–0 Allegiant Stadium Recap 5 at Tennessee Titans L 16–42 4–1 Nissan Stadium Recap 6 Kansas City Chiefs L 17–26 4–2 Bills Stadium Recap 7 October 25 at New York Jets W 18–10 5–2 MetLife Stadium Recap 8 November 1 New England Patriots W 24–21 6–2 Bills Stadium Recap 9 November 8 Seattle Seahawks W 44–34 7–2 Bills Stadium Recap 10 November 15 at Arizona Cardinals L 30–32 7–3 State Farm Stadium Recap 11 Bye 12 November 29 Los Angeles Chargers W 27–17 8–3 Bills Stadium Recap 13 at San Francisco 49ers W 34–24 9–3 State Farm Stadium Recap 14 December 13 Pittsburgh Steelers W 26–15 10–3 Bills Stadium Recap 15 at Denver Broncos W 48–19 11–3 Empower Field at Mile High Recap 16 at New England Patriots W 38–9 12–3 Gillette Stadium Recap 17 January 3 Miami Dolphins W 56–26 13–3 Bills Stadium Recap Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.
Game summaries
Week 1: vs. New York Jets
Buffalo handily won after racing to a 21–0 second quarter lead. Quarterback Josh Allen surpassed 300 passing yards for the first time in his career—throwing for 312, to be exact—and rushed 14 times for 57 yards as newly acquired receiver Stefon Diggs made his debut with the team. The defense largely shut down the Jets' offense aside from a field goal, a 69-yard touchdown pass from Sam Darnold to Jamison Crowder and a garbage-time touchdown in the fourth quarter, though rookie kicker Tyler Bass struggled in his debut, missing two of his four field goal attempts.
Week 2: at Miami Dolphins
In a back-and-forth affair against the rival Dolphins and former Bills quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, Josh Allen sealed the game for the Bills with two fourth-quarter touchdown passes to rookie Gabe Davis and John Brown, respectively, as the defense was playing without starting linebackers Tremaine Edmunds and Matt Milano. Stefon Diggs also caught his first touchdown as a Buffalo Bill, which occurred during a power outage at Hard Rock Stadium in the second quarter that temporarily prevented CBS from airing the game. With the win, Buffalo improved to 2–0, as Allen threw for a career-high in passing yards with 415.
Week 3: vs. Los Angeles Rams
Buffalo raced to a 28–3 lead in the middle of the third quarter, but after a pass from Josh Allen to TE Tyler Kroft was controversially ruled an interception for Los Angeles as Rams DB John Johnson III grabbed the ball moments after Kroft caught it, the Rams stormed back with five scoring drives to erase the deficit and take the lead in the fourth quarter. Allen would nonetheless lead a game-winning drive in the final four minutes of the game, including three crucial passes to WR Cole Beasley, capping it off with a touchdown pass to Kroft following a defensive pass interference call on Darious Williams on 4th and 9. With the win, not only did Buffalo start 3–0 for the second year in a row, but for the third week in a row, Allen threw for over 300 yards.
Week 4: at Las Vegas Raiders
Buffalo scored on the opening drive of the game when Josh Allen found a wide open Gabe Davis for a 26-yard touchdown. The Bills would not lose the lead for the remainder of the game, with Allen continuing his hot start to the season. Late in the second quarter, Allen scrambled and found Stefon Diggs for a 9-yard gain, but took a big hit from Raiders DE Arden Key, resulting in an injury to his left shoulder. He would return, however, and score on a 1-yard quarterback sneak, along with 136 yards passing in the second half, with his longest being a 49-yard throw to Diggs. Buffalo would win and go to 4–0 for the first time since 2008 (the team started 4–0 that season before losing nine of their final 12 games).
Week 5: at Tennessee Titans
Due to a COVID-19 outbreak within the Titans organization, the game was at first postponed from Sunday to the following Tuesday, marking the first time since 2010 that an NFL regular-season game was played on a Tuesday. In a battle of unbeaten teams, the Bills, missing starters such as Matt Milano, John Brown, Quinton Spain and Tre'Davious White, were unable to contain Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill, who scored four overall touchdowns on the Bills defense. To make matters worse, three turnovers by Buffalo allowed for short fields and quick touchdowns for the Titans. With their first loss of the season and first loss to Tennessee since 2012, the Bills fell to 4–1.
Week 6: vs. Kansas City Chiefs
Despite holding the high-powered Kansas City offense to 13 points in the first half of a rain-soaked game postponed from the previous Thursday (due to the Titans game being pushed back to the previous Tuesday), the Bills defense was not able to contain Chiefs rookie RB Clyde Edwards-Helaire, who led Kansas City to 245 rushing yards, while the Bills offense was bottled up for the most part, despite numerous pass-interference penalties called on the Chiefs secondary and two Josh Allen TD passes to Diggs and Beasley. A missed field goal by the Bills at the end of the first half proved costly, as the Chiefs were able to go up by two scores with a late field goal, preventing a potential game-winning drive by the Bills. Instead, Allen was intercepted on the final drive with 1:20 remaining, sealing the win for the Chiefs. With the loss, Buffalo fell to 4–2.
Week 7: at New York Jets
In a rematch from Week 1, New York jumped to an early 10–0 lead following a strip-sack of Allen by Jets linebacker Tarell Basham, but the Bills would score 18 unanswered points, all field goals by Tyler Bass, who went 6-of-8 with his field goals on the day, to win an ugly game. The Bills moved the ball well outside the red zone and were never forced to punt. Despite early struggles, Buffalo's defense was outstanding after halftime, allowing just 4 total yards to the Jets offense in the second half. Buffalo improved to 5–2 with the win, snapping a two-game losing streak and sweeping the Jets for the first time since 2015 (former head coach Rex Ryan's first season with Buffalo after six seasons with the Jets; the Bills won both meetings that year 22–17, with the latter meeting eliminating the Jets from the playoffs). The Bills also became the first team since 1941 with no touchdowns and also no punts in a game.
Week 8: vs. New England Patriots
In a windy game, both the Bills and Patriots opted for run-heavy offensive attacks, with both teams nearing 200 overall rushing yards apiece, as Bills rookie RB Zack Moss rushed for the first two touchdowns of his career. Played down to the wire, the game was decided when DT Justin Zimmer forced Patriots QB Cam Newton to fumble in the red zone as New England was driving to either tie the game or take the lead on its final drive. With the win, not only did Buffalo improve to 6–2 with a 1.5-game lead over Miami for the division lead, but achieved its first win over the Patriots since 2016 and first at home since 2011. It was also the first career win over the Patriots for both head coach Sean McDermott and QB Josh Allen.
Week 9: vs. Seattle Seahawks
Thanks to an emotionally charged performance from Josh Allen, whose grandmother, Patricia, died the previous night, not only did the Bills improve to 7–2 on the season, their strongest record after nine regular season games since 1993, but the team also notched their first victory over the Seahawks since 2008, their first win over a Pete Carroll-coached team since 1999 (when Carroll coached the New England Patriots before being replaced by Bill Belichick the following season) and the most points scored by the Bills in a game since defeating the San Francisco 49ers 45–16 in 2016.