Bills–Jets rivalry

The Bills–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 teams represent New York State, with the Bills having their primary fan base in Western New York, and the Jets in the New York City area.

This rivalry is fueled primarily by the differences between the greater New York City metropolitan area and the rest of New York State, but also by the Bills being the only team physically located in New York due to the Jets and their NFC counterparts the Giants playing their games in the New Jersey suburbs of New York 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 Bills' rivalry with the Dolphins and the Jets' with the Patriots. There have only been four seasons in which both the Bills and Jets finished with winning records. Regardless, the two teams share a bond due to this seeming inability to field winning teams simultaneously, having been the two NFL teams coached by Rex Ryan, and their long histories playing twice yearly against one another going back to the first days of the AFL.

The Bills lead the overall series, 69–58. The Bills also won the only postseason meeting, defeating the Jets 31–27 in the 1981 AFC Wild Card round.

1960–99: Early History
There were a handful of memorable games in the early history of this rivalry. During the Jets' Super Bowl winning year in 1968, the Bills defense intercepted Joe Namath five times, including three pick-sixes, as Buffalo upset the Jets 37–35 for its only win that year. In 1973, O. J. Simpson eclipsed Jim Brown's rushing yards record to surpass 2,000 yards in a 34–6 Bills win. Eight years later, the teams played their only playoff game together. In the 1981 AFC wild card game, the Bills had a 24–0 lead early in the game, but the Jets came back, cutting their deficit to 31–24. A late game interception of Richard Todd sealed the win for the Bills, however.

In the quarterback-rich 1983 NFL draft, the Bills selected quarterback Jim Kelly whereas the Jets infamously passed on Dan Marino in favor of Ken O'Brien. Despite Kelly not joining the Bills until 1986, as he played in the United States Football League instead until it ceased operations, his Bills tenure eventually saw a period of dominance over the Jets in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Kelly's first game against the Jets is remembered for a bench-clearing fist fight, as referee Ben Dreith famously penalized Jets defender Marty Lyons for "giving [Kelly] the business".

The Jets and Bills played two regular season games with playoff implications in the 1990s. 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.

2000–17
As the 2000s approached, Buffalo collapsed from a perennial Super Bowl contender to one of the worst teams in the league, while the Jets maintained a level of success, making the playoffs 5 times despite a period of dominance by the Tom Brady-led New England Patriots. However, the Bills finally ended their league-leading playoff drought in 2017, while the Jets have yet to return to the playoffs since last qualifying in 2010.

In 2008, the Bills were coming off a 5–1 start, but lost 8 of their remaining ten games to finish 7–9 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.

2009–2016: the Rex Ryan era
In 2009, the first year of Rex Ryan's six-year tenure as the Jets' head coach, 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 19–13 win that kept their playoff hopes alive.

During the 2013 NFL draft, the Bills and Jets once again selected quarterbacks with their early picks. EJ Manuel was picked by Buffalo in the first round while Geno Smith was chosen in the second round by the Jets. Ultimately, neither quarterback panned out and both were gone from their teams after 2016.

In 2014, the second Bills–Jets game was played at Ford Field in Detroit due to a freak snowstorm in Buffalo. The Bills won 38–3.

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 shortly after his dismissal by the Jets, serving as Buffalo's head coach for the next two years. 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 Geno Smith's jaw in a locker room altercation. The Bills won both games in 2015, knocking the Jets out of playoff contention with their second win. Tensions arose during the first game on Thursday Night Football when both teams were still in the hunt for a playoff spot, especially after Ryan made Enemkpali a team captain for that game. Despite Ryan's short tenure as the Bills' coach and firing before the second Bills-Jets matchup of 2016, his presence on the Bills briefly re-energized the rivalry.

2018–present: the Josh Allen era
In the 2018 NFL Draft, the Bills and Jets each traded up in order to select a highly touted quarterback. This resulted in Sam Darnold landing with the Jets 3rd overall and Josh Allen being selected by the Bills 7th overall. Allen and Darnold met on the field for the first time as rivals on December 9, 2018, with both having missed the first Bills–Jets match-up that year due to injury. The Bills jumped to an early 14–3 lead under Allen, but the Jets fought back with good special teams play to set up short fields and tied the game at 20 by the fourth quarter. After the Bills scored a field goal to retake the lead with just over two minutes to go, Darnold led a game-winning drive for the Jets, including a 37-yard pass to Robby Anderson to set up the go-ahead touchdown run by Elijah McGuire.

On September 8, 2019, the Bills overcame a 16–0 third quarter deficit and four turnovers to beat the Jets 17–16 at MetLife Stadium on opening day of the season. The Jets unraveled after losing linebacker C. J. Mosley to injury and were also hampered by ineffective placekicking from Kaare Vedvik. The momentum would carry over as Buffalo wound up making the playoffs while New York was unable to overcome a 1–7 start, despite both teams being expected to be competitive that year. Having clinched a playoff spot by then, the Bills rested several starters during the week 17 rematch, which the Jets won 13–6.

The second Bills–Jets matchup of the 2020 season was noteworthy as the then-winless Jets held a potent Bills offense out of the endzone, but Buffalo still prevailed 18–10 thanks to six field goals by rookie kicker Tyler Bass. Not only did the Bills sweep the yearly series, but the franchises had nearly exact opposite years with the Bills finishing 13–3 but the Jets just 2–14 to begin the new decade, continuing a long general trend of the two teams being unable to be simultaneously successful. Allen had his best season thus far with a 107.2 passer rating and 37 touchdowns, while Darnold had his worst with a 72.7 rating and just 9 touchdowns in 12 games. The Jets traded Darnold to the Carolina Panthers following the season, drafting Zach Wilson to replace him.

After Allen and the Bills swept the Jets in 2021, the Wilson-led Jets won the first matchup in 2022, as a 6-minute-long drive that started at New York's 4-yard line set up the game winning field goal. With under 2 minutes left, the Bills were unable to respond, as a holding penalty against tackle Dion Dawkins and a strip sack of Allen that left him injured caused the Bills to turn the ball over on downs, allowing a 20–17 Jets upset win over the heavily-favored Bills. This game was the first time since that both teams met with winning records. By the time of the rematch, Wilson had been benched for Mike White, who had started one game against Buffalo the previous year, and the Jets were in the middle of what would become a six-game losing streak to end the year out of playoff contention while the Bills were in the middle of a seven-game winning streak to end the year. Just as in his previous start against Buffalo, White struggled and was injured during the 20–12 Bills win. During this game, he was knocked out of the game twice, suffering what was later revealed to be broken ribs, but decided to return to the game both times, earning the respect of fans and players from both teams.

The following season, New York traded for longtime Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, setting up what would become a highly anticipated opening week game between the Bills and Jets on Monday Night Football. Unfortunately, Rodgers ruptured his Achilles tendon on just his fourth play in the game, but the Jets forced Allen to turn the ball over four times, and ended up winning in overtime 22–16 on Xavier Gipson's punt return touchdown. Gipson's next touch against the Bills did not fare as well, as he fumbled the opening kickoff return in the rematch in Buffalo after being tackled by Bills fullback Reggie Gilliam. This sparked a 32–6 Bills victory in what was considered a must-win game for both teams, as the Jets could not contain a refocused Allen and struggled on offense, leading to Zach Wilson being benched again. The game also saw tensions flare between several players, including Micheal Clemons and Dion Dawkins.

Coaches
The most notable connection between the Bills and Jets has been Rex Ryan, who carried over many of his staff from the Jets when he was hired as the Bills' head coach.

Players
Several players have been members of both teams during their careers, including: