The Bills had not beaten
the Miami Dolphins in the entire decade of the 1970s, a streak of twenty straight losses, the longest in NFL history. The last time the Bills had defeated Miami was
1969. The Bills had been outscored 565 (28.5 points per games) to 299 (14.5) during the 1970s by the Dolphins, failing to score more than ten points in over a third of the contests (7). They were shut out three times. Conversely, the Dolphins were held under twenty points just four times, and scored 45 points on the Bills twice. The domination was so thorough that the Bills only lost by one score or less five times, and
Don Shula had never lost to Buffalo since taking over as Dolphins coach in
1970. The Bills only held a lead at any point in eight of the games, and only twice in the fourth quarter. Joe Ferguson had lost to the Dolphins 14 straight times. On opening day of the 1980 season, Miami visited
Rich Stadium, attempting to extend the streak to 21 games. At the end of three quarters, Miami led 7–3. In the fourth quarter, running back
Roosevelt Leaks scored the go-ahead touchdown to make the score 10–7. Joe Cribbs added a second touchdown to extend the lead to 17–7, and Jeff Nixon intercepted his third pass of the game with only 36 seconds left, breaking the streak at 20 games. A rowdy crowd of 79,000 fans celebrated, and many stormed the field to tear down the goal posts, carrying them around the field.
Joe Cribbs contributed 131 combined yards of offense for the triumphant Bills. The rivalry continued well into the 1990s, but with different results: from 1986 to 1996—the years in which Bills quarterback
Jim Kelly and Dolphins quarterback
Dan Marino played at the same time—the Bills won 14 of 22 match-ups between the teams. ==Offseason==