The Billsâ€"Jets rivalry is a rivalry between the Buffalo Bills and New York Jets in the National Football League. Both of these teams play in the same division (AFC East) and as a result, play two scheduled games each season. Both represent the same state, New York (although the Jets have played their home games in East Rutherford, New Jersey since 1984), with the Bills having their primary fan base in Western New York, and the Jets in the New York City area. They have a long history between each other, as they were original members of the American Football League in 1960.
Quick facts
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With their long rivalry dating back to 1960, the Bills have won 7 of the last 11 games and lead the series 61â€"54. The largest margin of victory is 39, when the Jets defeated the Bills 42â€"3 on September 15, 1985. The smallest is 1, when the Jets won 21â€"20 on October 9, 1978. There has only been one post-season game between these two teams which was the AFC Wild Card Game dating back to December 27, 1981, where the Bills defeated the Jets 31â€"27. The largest ever recorded attendance at one of the games between these two teams dates back to October 8, 1995, where the Bills defeated the Jets 29â€"10 with a total attendance crowd of 79,485. Between the two teams there have only been 3 overtime games. The earliest overtime game took place on November 20, 1988, when the Bills defeated the Jets 9â€"6. The next overtime game was on October 8, 2002, where the Jets defeated the Bills 37â€"31. The last overtime game was on October 18, 2009, which the Bills won 16â€"13. The longest winning streak in the series was ten by Buffalo from 1988 until 1992; the longest Jets streak was seven (1984â€"1987). The most recent game was played on November 2, 2017.
This rivalry is fueled primarily by the differences between New York City and the rest of New York State, and also by the Bills claiming to be the only team in New York (the Jets and their NFC counterparts New York Giants actually play their games in East Rutherford, New Jersey, a suburb of the city). However, the two teams have rarely been successful at the same time, and as such, their rivalry usually lacks the intensity that is present in other rivalries, such as the Jets' rivalry with the Patriots and the Bills' with the Dolphins. There have only been four seasons in which both the Bills and Jets finished with winning records.
Notable moments
There were a handful of memorable games in the early history of this rivalry. In 1973, O.J. Simpson eclipsed Jim Brown's rushing yards record to surpass 2,000 yards in a 34â€"6 Bills win. Eight years later, the teams played their only playoff game together. In the 1981 AFC Wild Card game, the Bills had a 24â€"0 lead early in the game, but the Jets came back, cutting their deficit to 31â€"24. A late game interception of Richard Todd sealed the win for the Bills, however. During the 90s, the Jets and Bills played two regular season games with playoff implications. The 1993 season saw the Jets failing to secure a playoff berth by losing a game to the Bills via three missed field goals. In 1998, the Jets secured their first ever AFC East division title by beating the Bills.
In 2008, the Bills were coming off a 5â€"1 start, but lost 8 of their remaining ten games to finish 7â€"9 and out of the playoffs. Two of those losses came against the Jets; the latter included a J. P. Losman fumble returned for the Jets' game-winning touchdown as the Bills were trying to run out the clock.
In 2009, Mark Sanchez threw 5 interceptions to the Bills defense, losing a game in overtime for the Jets in which they rushed for 318 yards. Later that year, the Jets rematched the Bills in Toronto as part of the Bills Toronto Series, in which the Jets avenged their loss with a 19â€"13 win that kept their playoff hopes alive.
In 2014, the second Billsâ€"Jets game was played at Ford Field in Detroit due to a freak snowstorm in Buffalo. The Bills won 38â€"3.
The 2015 offseason saw some notable personnel swaps between the teams. On January 12, Rex Ryan was hired as the head coach of the Bills. Ryan had spent the previous six seasons as the head coach of the Jets. In addition, the Jets hired former Bills head coach Chan Gailey as their offensive coordinator and traded for former Bills starting quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick who later became their own starter. The Bills also added former Jets Percy Harvin and IK Enemkpali, the latter one day after he was released for breaking the jaw of Jets quarterback Geno Smith in a locker room altercation. The Bills won both games in 2015, knocking the Jets out of playoff contention with their second win. Things heated up the first game when both were still in the hunt for a playoff spot, especially after Ryan made Enemkpali a team captain.
In 2016, a Thursday Night game between the Jets and Bills was the first NFL game ever broadcast on Twitter, with the Jets winning 37â€"31.
The Bills and Jets entered the 2017 season with low expectations, with New York having released or traded many of its starters and Buffalo doing likewise under new head coach Sean McDermott. Though both teams were speculated to "tank" for a high draft pick, they each started the 2017 campaign strong. The teams split their 2017 meetings.
Score history
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