AFC East

AFC East

Conference	American Football Conference
League	National Football League
Sport	American Football
Founded	1960 (as the American Football League Eastern Division)
No. of teams	Buffalo Bills   Miami Dolphins   New England Patriots   New York Jets
Most recent champion(s)	New England Patriots (15th title)
Most titles	New England Patriots (15 titles)

The American Football Conference – Eastern Division or AFC East is a division of the National Football League's American Football Conference. There are currently four teams that reside in the division: Buffalo Bills of Orchard Park, Miami Dolphins of Miami Gardens, New England Patriots of Foxborough, and New York Jets of Florham Park.

Since the division's enfranchisement in 1960, with the creation of the American Football League, the division has represented in 18 Super Bowls and won 7 of them, with the most recent during the 2004 National Football League season by the New England Patriots. The most recent appearance in the Super Bowl by an AFC East team was the Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI.

Entering 2013 the Patriots had the most wins in the division's history, with a record of 426-369-9, with a playoff record of 24-17 (3-4 in Super Bowls). The Dolphins were second at 407-309-4 (having played 84 fewer games than their division rivals) with a playoff record of 20-20 (2-3 in Super Bowls). The Bills were at 370-426-8 with a playoff record of 14-15 (with two American Football League titles) but winless having gone to four consecutive Super Bowls. The Jets held a record of 365-431-8, with a playoff record of 12-13 including victory in Super Bowl III.

In 2012, the Patriots broke a tie with the Dolphins for winning the most division titles; New England has won 15 division titles to Miami's 14. The Bills have won ten division titles, and the Jets have won four.

Two teams formerly in the division combined for ten AFL/AFC East titles - the Houston Oilers (now the Tennessee Titans) won four division titles (and the 1960 and 1961 league titles) during the AFL era while the Baltimore-Indianapolis Colts won six division titles (and Super Bowl V) in the 32 seasons they were in the division.

AFL Eastern Division

The American Football League Eastern Division was formed during the inaugural season of the American Football League in 1960, as a counterpart to the AFL Western Division. The divisional alignment consisted of the Buffalo Bills, Boston Patriots, New York Titans and Houston Oilers. The Miami Dolphins entered the AFL in 1966 as part of its Eastern division.

AFC East

Locale of the current 4 AFC East teams

The division was absorbed nearly intact with the AFL–NFL Merger in 1970, but Houston was moved to the AFC Central (formerly the NFL Century Division, now the AFC North) and replaced by the closer Baltimore Colts (from the NFL Coastal Division, which became the NFC West). Despite relocating to Indianapolis, Indiana in 1984, the Colts continued to play in the AFC East until NFL expansion from 31 to 32 teams with the addition of the Houston Texans (successor club in Houston to the Oilers) and 2002 re-alignment when they were moved to the AFC South (the successor franchise to the Oilers, the Tennessee Titans, is also in the AFC South).

Although Miami is farther south than the home cities of the other three teams, all of which are in the Northeast, all four AFC East teams have historical rivalries among them, dating from their years in the AFL during the 1960s.

None of the AFC East teams currently plays within the central city of their metropolitan area:

• The Bills play 7 games in Orchard Park, New York and 1 in Toronto, Ontario (they played in the city of Buffalo from 1960–72).
• The Jets play in East Rutherford, New Jersey (they played in the New York City borough of Manhattan from 1960–63, and in the borough of Queens from 1964–83)
• The Dolphins play in Miami Gardens, Florida, a suburb of Miami (they played in the city Miami from 1966–86)
• The Patriots play in Foxborough, approximately halfway between their original home city of Boston (in which the team played from 1960 to 1970) and Providence, Rhode Island.

All of the teams are or were coached by a first or second generation member of the Bill Parcells coaching tree: the Patriots have Bill Belichick; the Dolphins had Tony Sparano; the Jets had Eric Mangini (who served as an assistant with both Belichick and Parcells); and the Bills had Dick Jauron (fired on November 17, 2009), who served as an assistant with former Parcells assistant Tom Coughlin. The Jets are now coached by Rex Ryan and the Bills are now coached by Doug Marrone. Parcells himself coached the Patriots (1993–6) and the Jets (1997–9) and was Vice President of Football Operations for the Dolphins until the summer of 2010.

ESPN's Chris Berman often calls this division the "AFC Adams" due to its geographical similarity to the old Adams Division of the NHL, now known as the Northeast Division.

Along with the AFC (formerly AFL) West, the AFC East is the oldest NFL division in terms of creation date (1960).

Division lineups

Place cursor over year for division champ or Super Bowl team.

Years
AFL Eastern Division										NFL AFC East Division
60	61	62	63	64	65	66	67	68	69	70	71	72	73	74	75	76	77	78	79	80	81	82	83	84	85	86	87	88	89	90	91	92	93	94	95	96	97	98	99	00	01
Boston Patriots											New England Patriots
Buffalo Bills
Houston Oilers
N Y Titans			New York Jets
						Miami Dolphins
										Baltimore Colts														Indianapolis Colts
AFC East Division
02	03	04	05	06	07	08	09	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38	39	40	41	42	43
New England Patriots
Buffalo Bills
New York Jets
Miami Dolphins
Team not in division      Division Won AFL Championship      Division Won Super Bowl      Division Won AFC Championship

^A Boston Patriots relocate team to Foxborough, Massachusetts subsequently renamed New England Patriots (1971 season)

^B Houston Oilers move to newly created AFC Central division (1970 season) and later are renamed the Tennessee Oilers (1997 season), then Tennessee Titans (1999 season). Moved to AFC South in 2002.

^C New York Titans renamed to New York Jets (1963 season)

^D Miami Dolphins enfranchised (1966 season)

^E Baltimore Colts merge from NFL's Western Division to AFC East (1970 Season)

^F Baltimore Colts relocate team to Indianapolis, Indiana subsequently renamed Indianapolis Colts (1984 Season). They moved to the AFC South in 2002

Division champions

Season	Team	Record	Playoff Results
1960	Houston Oilers	10–4–0	Won AFL Championship Game
1961	Houston Oilers	10–3–1	Won AFL Championship Game
1962	Houston Oilers	11–3–0	Lost AFL Championship Game
1963!	Boston Patriots	7–6–1	Lost AFL Championship Game
1964	Buffalo Bills	12–2–0	Won AFL Championship Game
1965	Buffalo Bills	10–3–1	Won AFL Championship Game
1966	Buffalo Bills	9–4–1	Lost AFL Championship Game
1967	Houston Oilers	9–4–1	Lost AFL Championship Game
1968	New York Jets	11–3–0	Won Super Bowl III
1969	New York Jets	10–4–0	Lost Inter-Divisional Playoffs
1970	Baltimore Colts	11–2–1	Won Super Bowl V
1971	Miami Dolphins	10–3–1	Lost Super Bowl VI
1972	Miami Dolphins	14–0–0	Won Super Bowl VII
1973	Miami Dolphins	12–2–0	Won Super Bowl VIII
1974	Miami Dolphins	11–3–0	Lost AFC Divisional Playoffs
1975	Baltimore Colts	10–4–0	Lost AFC Divisional Playoffs
1976	Baltimore Colts	11–3–0	Lost AFC Divisional Playoffs
1977	Baltimore Colts	10–4–0	Lost AFC Divisional Playoffs
1978	New England Patriots	11–5–0	Lost AFC Divisional Playoffs
1979	Miami Dolphins	10–6–0	Lost AFC Divisional Playoffs
1980	Buffalo Bills	11–5–0	Lost AFC Divisional Playoffs
1981	Miami Dolphins	11–4–1	Lost AFC Divisional Playoffs
1982+	Miami Dolphins	7–2–0	Lost Super Bowl XVII
1983	Miami Dolphins	12–4–0	Lost AFC Divisional Playoffs
1984	Miami Dolphins	14–2–0	Lost Super Bowl XIX
1985	Miami Dolphins	12–4–0	Lost AFC Championship Game
1986	New England Patriots	11–5–0	Lost AFC Divisional Playoffs
1987	Indianapolis Colts	9–6–0	Lost AFC Divisional Playoffs
1988	Buffalo Bills	12–4–0	Lost AFC Championship Game
1989	Buffalo Bills	9–7–0	Lost AFC Divisional Playoffs
1990	Buffalo Bills	13–3–0	Lost Super Bowl XXV
1991	Buffalo Bills	13–3–0	Lost Super Bowl XXVI
1992	Miami Dolphins	11–5–0	Lost AFC Championship Game
1993	Buffalo Bills	12–4–0	Lost Super Bowl XXVIII
1994	Miami Dolphins	10–6–0	Lost AFC Divisional Playoffs
1995	Buffalo Bills	10–6–0	Lost AFC Divisional Playoffs
1996	New England Patriots	11–5–0	Lost Super Bowl XXXI
1997	New England Patriots	10–6–0	Lost AFC Divisional Playoffs
1998	New York Jets	12–4–0	Lost AFC Championship Game
1999	Indianapolis Colts	13–3–0	Lost AFC Divisional Playoffs
2000	Miami Dolphins	11–5–0	Lost AFC Divisional Playoffs
2001	New England Patriots	11–5–0	Won Super Bowl XXXVI
2002	New York Jets	9–7–0	Lost AFC Divisional Playoffs
2003	New England Patriots	14–2–0	Won Super Bowl XXXVIII
2004	New England Patriots	14–2–0	Won Super Bowl XXXIX
2005	New England Patriots	10–6–0	Lost AFC Divisional Playoffs
2006	New England Patriots	12–4–0	Lost AFC Championship Game
2007	New England Patriots	16–0–0	Lost Super Bowl XLII
2008	Miami Dolphins	11–5–0	Lost AFC Wild Card Playoffs
2009	New England Patriots	10–6–0	Lost AFC Wild Card Playoffs
2010	New England Patriots	14-2-0	Lost AFC Divisional Playoffs
2011	New England Patriots	13–3–0	Lost Super Bowl XLVI
2012	New England Patriots	12–4–0	Lost AFC Championship Game

•  ! – The Patriots and Bills each finished with identical 7–6–1 records in the regular season. The Patriots would win the ensuing playoff game for the right to represent the East in the AFL Championship Game.
• + – A players' strike in 1982 reduced the regular season to nine games. Thus, the league used a special 16-team playoff tournament just for this year. Division standings were ignored, Miami had the best record of the division teams.

Wild Card qualifiers

Since 1969

• 1969 – Houston Oilers
• 1970 – Miami Dolphins
• 1971 – Baltimore Colts
• 1974 – Buffalo Bills
• 1976 – New England Patriots
• 1978 – Miami Dolphins
• 1981 – Buffalo Bills, New York Jets
• 1982 – strike year* New England Patriots & N Y Jets
• 1985 – New England Patriots, New York Jets
• 1986 – New York Jets
• 1990 – Miami Dolphins
• 1991 – New York Jets
• 1992 – Buffalo Bills
• 1994 – New England Patriots
• 1995 – Indianapolis Colts, Miami Dolphins
• 1996 – Buffalo Bills, Indianapolis Colts
• 1997 – Miami Dolphins
• 1998 – Buffalo Bills, Miami Dolphins, New England Patriots
• 1999 – Buffalo Bills, Miami Dolphins
• 2000 – Indianapolis Colts
• 2001 – Miami Dolphins, New York Jets
• 2004 – New York Jets
• 2006 – New York Jets
• 2009 – New York Jets
• 2010 – New York Jets

* – A players' strike in 1982 reduced the regular season to nine games. Thus, the league used a special 16-team playoff tournament just for this year. Division standings were ignored.

Schedule assignments

Year	Opponents
	Intraconf.	Interconf.
2012	AFC South	NFC West
2013	AFC North	NFC South
2014	AFC West	NFC North
2015	AFC South	NFC East
2016	AFC North	NFC West
2017	AFC West	NFC South
2018	AFC South	NFC North
2019	AFC North	NFC East
2020	AFC West	NFC West
2021	AFC South	NFC South
2022	AFC North	NFC North
2023	AFC West	NFC East
2024	AFC South	NFC West
2025	AFC North	NFC South

See also

• Bills-Dolphins rivalry
• Dolphins-Jets rivalry
• Jets-Patriots rivalry
• Colts-Patriots rivalry

Total playoff berths while in the AFL/AFC East

(AFC East records 1960-2011 seasons)
Reflects Colts & Oilers results only while in the East Division.
In the sortable table below, teams can be ordered by name, number of division wins, playoff berths, or titles.

Team	Division Titles	Playoff Berths	AFL Titles	AFC Championships	Super Bowl Championships
New England Patriots	1401 ! 15	19 !19	0	7	3
Miami Dolphins	1402 ! 14	22 !22	0	5	2
Buffalo Bills	0701 ! 10	17 ! 17	2	4	0
Indianapolis Colts1	0601 ! 6	10 ! 10	0	1	1
New York Jets	0402 ! 4	14 !14	1	0	1
Houston Oilers2	0401 ! 4	05 !5	201 !2	0	0

AFC East	-Division-- Titles	-Playoff- Berths	AFL -Titles-	AFC -Championships-	Super Bowl -Championships-
Totals- 1960-2011	53	87	5	17	7

¹ Realigned from NFL West in 1970 merger. Known as the Baltimore Colts before 1984. Realigned into the AFC South beginning with the 2002 NFL season.
² Realigned into the AFC Central in 1970 merger, and into the AFC South in 2002. Known as Tennessee Oilers from 1997–98, and Tennessee Titans since 1999.