The Cleveland Browns will host the Buffalo Bills in Week 16 of the 2025 NFL season.
The Browns hold the edge in the all-time series against the Bills, as Cleveland is 13-10, which includes a playoff win. Cleveland is also 8-4 at home against Buffalo, including wins in three of the last four meetings in Cleveland.
Related: Browns 2025 Schedule Primer: Week 16, Buffalo Bills
This is a series that has been full of streaks, as the Browns won five in a row in the 1980s, while the Bills have won five of the past
seven meetings overall.
Here are five of the most memorable games between the Browns and the Bills.
January 6, 1990: Browns 34, Bills 30
Cleveland and Buffalo have only met once in the playoffs, but it was a game filled with big plays in what they refer to nowadays as an “instant classic.”
Buffalo’s Jim Kelly worked over Cleveland’s secondary in the first half with touchdown passes to Andre Reed for 72 yards and James Lofton for 33 yards. But the Browns kept answering back with their own big plays, including a 52-yard touchdown pass from Bernie Kosar to Webster Slaughter and a 90-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Eric Metcalf.
The Browns had a 10-point lead as the teams opened the fourth quarter, and it remained that way after Buffalo’s Scott Norwood and Cleveland’s Matt Bahr traded field goals. Kelly’s fourth touchdown pass of the game, a three-yarder to Thurman Thomas, pulled the Bills closer, but Norwood missed the extra point, and Cleveland’s lead remained at four.
Cleveland went three-and-out, and Kelly moved the Bills into scoring territory, eventually reaching Cleveland’s 11-yard line with 14 seconds remaining. Thanks to Norwood’s missed extra point, the Bills needed a touchdown, but Clay Matthews intercepted Kelly’s pass at the one-yard line, and the Browns had finally pulled out the victory.
Kosar had three touchdown passes on the day, Slaughter had 114 receiving yards and two touchdowns, and the defense forced three turnovers. The Browns advanced to their third AFC Championship Game in four seasons, where they lost to the Denver Broncos, signaling the official end of playoff runs under Kosar.
December 16, 2007: Browns 8, Bills 0
The Browns and Bills met at Cleveland Browns Stadium on a day that featured blinding snow and 40 mph wind gusts.
But what other kickers would call hell, Cleveland’s Phil Dawson called home as he converted a pair of field goals in the first half that, combined with a safety, ensured the Browns came out on the correct side of the first 8-0 game in the NFL since 1929.
Even with the windy conditions, Cleveland’s Derek Anderson and Buffalo’s Trent Edwards combined for 57 pass attempts, but only completed 22 of them for a combined 261 passing yards. The Browns were able to roll up 174 rushing yards, fueled by Jamal Lewis’ 163 yards on 33 carries.
The win ensured the Browns would finish with a winning record for the first time in five years, but an inexplicable loss the following week to the Cincinnati Bengals ultimately doomed Cleveland’s chances of earning a playoff berth.
November 17, 2008: Browns 29, Bills 27
One year later, the Browns and Bills met on Monday Night Football in a game where Cleveland narrowly avoided becoming the first team in league history to blow double-digit leads to lose three consecutive games.
The Browns opened a 13-point lead after Josh Cribbs’ two-yard touchdown run in the second quarter, and were still up by 10 points after Jerome Harrison scampered 72 yards for a touchdown on the first play of the fourth quarter. Buffalo’s Leodis McKelvin returned the ensuing kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown, however, and after Trent Edwards scored on a one-yard touchdown run, the Bills had finally taken the lead, 27-26, just before the two-minute warning.
Brady Quinn was able to move the Browns into field-goal range, and Phil Dawson converted a 56-yard field goal, the second longest of his career, to give the Browns a two-point lead with about 90 seconds remaining. The Bills had one final drive in them, but Rian Lindell’s 47-yard field goal was wide right, and the Browns left Ralph Wilson Stadium with their final win of the season.
Perhaps even more memorable than what took place on the field was Cleveland general manager Phil Savage getting into an angry e-mail exchange with a fan that ended with Savage telling the fan to “Go root for Buffalo. F*** you.”
October 11, 2009: Browns 6, Bills 3
The Browns and Bills closed out their trilogy of bizarre games on a windy day in Buffalo.
Neither offense could get anything going during a game that saw the teams trade punt after punt, and it appeared destined to finish in a 3-3 tie. But Dave Zastudil’s ninth punt of the day was fumbled by Buffalo’s Roscoe Parrish, and Blake Costanzo recovered the ball for Cleveland at Buffalo’s 16-yard line.
From there, the Browns handed the ball to Jamal Lewis for six consecutive runs, and Billy Cundiff converted an 18-yard field goal for Cleveland’s first win since their last game against the Bills almost a year earlier.
Cleveland’s Derek Anderson completed just two passes for 23 yards in the game, the first time a team won an NFL game while completing two or fewer passes.
October 3, 2013: Browns 37, Bills 24
Cleveland hosted Buffalo for a Thursday night game that turned out to be quarterback Brandon Weeden’s last good day with the Browns.
Weeded had been inactive the previous two weeks after spraining his thumb, and watched as Brian Hoyer took over the starter’s role and led the Browns to consecutive wins. But when Hoyer suffered a season-ending knee injury in the first quarter, Weeden rode to the rescue.
The Browns scored 17 points in the second quarter, thanks to a one-yard touchdown run by Willis McGahee and a 79-yard punt return from Travis Benjamin, to take a seven-point lead into halftime. The Bills came back in the third period to take the lead, but a 37-yard touchdown pass from Weeded to Josh Gordon had the teams tied at 24 heading into the fourth quarter.
Cleveland built the lead to six points on a pair of field goals by Billy Cundiff, and then closed out the Bills when T.J. Ward returned an interception 44 yards for a touchdown just after the two-minute warning.
Weeden was just 13-of-24 in the game and took five sacks, but he still passed for 197 yards and avoided turning the ball over. He would start the next two weeks, both losses by the Browns, and play his final game in a Cleveland uniform in Week 13, a game where he threw for 370 yards and three touchdowns, but turned the ball over three times in a loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars.
What is your most memorable game between the Browns and Bills? Have your say in the comments.
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