The New England Patriots and Buffalo Bills are no strangers to one another. Division rivals since the AFC’s inception in 1960, the two franchises will meet for a 134th time this coming Sunday.
Let’s take a look back at the first 133 of those games.
Patriots vs. Bills series history
Overall history: As you will soon see, some of the key moments of the rivalry have involved the Bills winning. On the whole, however, New England has gotten the better of its rivals more often than not: including playoffs, the Patriots are 80-52-1, with
the two teams splitting their postseason meetings 1-1. The first four decades of the series was relatively evenly split between the two rivals, but the Patriots going 34-4 during the Tom Brady/Bill Belichick era significantly tipped the overall scales in their favor. Even though Buffalo holds a 9-4 advantage since 2020, the team has plenty of ground to make up before evening the record again. As for games played in Western New York, the Patriots own a 39-27-1 record.
First game: The Patriots and Bills already met in the first ever AFL preseason game — a 28-7 Patriots win — but Week 3 of the inaugural 1960 regular season saw the first official meeting between the two. The more than 20,000 spectators at Boston University Field were treated to… nothing. Even though the home team ran for 173 yards and held the Bills offense very much in check for most of the day, it simply couldn’t get out of its own way: seven turnovers were too much to overcome and set the stage for an eventual 13-0 Buffalo win. It was the first victory in Bills franchise history.
Most memorable game (bad): Even though the Patriots have dominated the series as a whole, two of the most memorable moments belong to the Bills.. The first is O.J. Simpson setting a new single-game rushing record in 1973. However, the pick as the most memorable game ultimately is quite easy and admittedly painful from a Patriots perspective: the 2021 divisional round game that saw Buffalo play a perfect offensive game. In seven non-kneel-down drives, the Bills scored seven touchdowns en route to a 47-17 blowout win in what was Bill Belichick’s last and Mac Jones’ only playoff game with the Patriots. | Highlights
Most memorable game (good): We can’t have this breakdown take too much of a doom-and-gloom direction, so let’s also highlight some memorable game actually won by the Patriots. There was the famous 2021 upset in Buffalo that saw Mac Jones drop back to pass just three times all game, Randy Moss catching four touchdowns in a 56-10 blowout on national television, the 31-0 evening-of-the-score in 2003, the Bills leaving the field in protest after a last-second loss in 1998, or the first ever AFL playoff game won 26-8 by the Patriots in 1963. Ultimately, our pick for the most memorable game was Tom Brady’s return from a torn ACL on 2009 opening day: down 24-13 late in the game, Brady led two touchdown drives to secure a 25-24 win. | Highlights
Most recent game: After already beating the Bills earlier in the season, the Patriots seemed to fully put their stamp on the AFC East in Week 15 last December. However, they failed to hold onto a 21-0 halftime lead and instead soon found themselves in a blow-for-blow heavyweight fight. Buffalo ultimately came out ahead, winning 35-31 to the eventual division and conference champions. | Highlights
The 1-2 Patriots will take on the 3-0 Bills at Buffalo’s new Highmark Stadium on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET.
