They frequently contended for divisional dominance and played a number of great games. The rivalry is now deadlocked at 55-55-1, with the Dolphins winning the lone postseason encounter, defeating the Jets in the 1982 AFC Championship.
The Dolphins currently reside in Miami while the Jets play in New York City. However, both teams are planning on moving to Los Angeles beginning in 2020.
The Jets won their first game against the Dolphins on September 19, 1960, by a final score of 23-7. Ryan Fitzpatrick was the quarterback for the Jets at the time as Chad Henne started for the Dolphins.
Their most recent meeting was December 13, 2018, in London. The Dolphins defeated the Jets 27-24 in one of the more controversial finishes in NFL history. Josh McCown had led the Jets down 24-21 with less than two minutes left before Brian Flores called a timeout with no apparent reason. From there on out, it was chaos as both teams traded penalties and throws into the end zone (including one that was intercepted by Derek Rivers with 1:44 remaining). Ultimately, the loss was confirmed when McCown was penalized 15 yards for intentional grounding with no time left.
Here's how they got here: The Dolphins lead the series 9-3-0.
That same season, the Dolphins became the only club in NFL history to win their division after going 1-15, and it was the final non-Patriot division title in the AFC East as of 2018. See The History of the Miami Dolphins for a comprehensive team history.
The Dolphins finished second in the league with a record of 457-370-4 (having played 84 less games than their division opponents) and a postseason record of 20-21. (2-3 in Super Bowls). The Bills finished 425-483-8 in the regular season, 14-15 in the playoffs (with two AFL titles), and 0-4 in four straight Super Bowls.
Five Since 1970, the Dolphins have won 13 AFC Eastern division crowns and five AFC championships. The team has never made it to a Super Bowl; it lost in both the Miami Beach Bowl and the Super Bowl XLII.
The Dolphins are one of only three teams (the other two being the Cowboys and Saints) to have earned at least 10 division titles during the NFL's existence. They joined the AFL as an expansion team in 1966 and have not missed the playoffs since then. The Dolphins have also won more than ten games six times, most recently in 2015.
In addition to their division titles, the Dolphins have also won two World Championships. In 1972, when popular former player Joe Namath led the team to its first championship in Miami, he had a hand in helping the Dolphins win or tie every game they played that season. The following year, Larry Csonka helped lead his team to victory in Super Bowl VIII over the Minnesota Vikings. He was named MVP of that game.
Csonka went on to play 12 more seasons with the Dolphins, finishing with 140 catches for 1679 yards and nine touchdowns.
The Patriots-Dolphins rivalry
| Statistics | |
|---|---|
| Meetings total | 110 |
| All-time series | Dolphins, 57–54 |
| Postseason results | Patriots, 2–1 January 8, 1983: Dolphins 28, Patriots 13 January 12, 1986: Patriots 31, Dolphins 14 December 28, 1997: Patriots 17, Dolphins 3 |
| Largest victory | Dolphins: 52–0 (1972) Patriots: 43–0 (2019) |
The Dolphins' 1972 regular-season opponents had a combined winning percentage of.397, and only two had winning records that year (both the Kansas City Chiefs and New York Giants finished 8-6).
The 1973 Miami Dolphins season was the team's eighth and fourth in the National Football League (NFL). Following an unbeaten 1972 season, the squad started the 1973 season as the defending Super Bowl winners.
The Dolphins completed an undefeated season by beating the Redskins in Super Bowl VII.
The most recent update was on March 8, 2019. Any discussion of the greatest NFL teams usually starts with the 1972 Miami Dolphins, who went 17-0 that season. No other NFL team in the Super Bowl era has ever gone undefeated and gone on to win the title.
The Dolphins finished second in the league with a record of 457-370-4 (having played 84 less games than their division opponents) and a postseason record of 20-21. (2-3 in Super Bowls). The Bills finished 425-483-8 in the regular season, 14-15 in the playoffs (with two AFL titles), and 0-4 in four straight Super Bowls. This is also the only time any team has swept both divisions in the same season.
The Patriots finished first in the league with a record of 486-390-6 and won their third title in four years. Miami was defeated by New England in the AFC Championship Game 21-16 at Foxboro Stadium on January 13, 1978.
Boston came into the game with a 10-1 record and had already beaten the Dolphins twice during the 1977 season. The Patriots dominated most of the game but fell short due to a missed field goal attempt by Dave Meggett with 1:51 remaining in the fourth quarter. New England's Tony Collins recovered the ball in Miami territory with 29 seconds left on the clock. However, coach Chuck Noll elected not to go for the win and instead let the clock run down before sending in an ineligible player (tight end Ken Margerum) on a double reverse. The play failed and Boston lost by a final score of 21-16.
Following their loss to Boston, the Dolphins went on to beat Pittsburgh and Houston during the next two seasons to claim the second half of the AFC East crown.
The Dolphins completed the NFL's first and only perfect season in 1972, winning every regular season game, two playoff games, and Super Bowl VII, which they won 14-7 over the Washington Redskins (the 1948 Cleveland Browns had accomplished an undefeated season, but as members of the All-America Football Conference). The 1972 Dolphins are still the only team to win every game during a 16-game regular season.
Other teams have attempted to complete the feat, most notably the 1974 Kansas City Chiefs. The Chiefs played their first four games against weak opponents and then went on a seven-game winning streak, finishing with a 9-7 record. The problem was that they lost Steve Owens to injury during this stretch and didn't seem to miss a beat without him. The Chiefs were eliminated from contention when they lost to Oakland on Thanksgiving Day.
The other attempts came from different teams at different times throughout history. The 1969 Baltimore Colts finished with a 10-0 record before losing the NFL Championship to the Green Bay Packers. That same year, the San Diego Chargers finished with a 9-1 record before losing in the playoffs to Buffalo. In 1998, the New York Giants finished the regular season with a 12-1 record before losing in the NFC Championship Game to the Atlanta Falcons.
In conclusion, the 1972 Miami Dolphins are the only team to achieve perfect season status in the NFL.
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