The American Football League Eastern Division was formed during the inaugural season of the
American Football League in 1960, as a counterpart to the AFL
Western Division. The divisional alignment consisted of the Buffalo Bills, Boston Patriots, New York Titans and
Houston Oilers. The
Miami Dolphins entered the AFL in 1966 as part of its Eastern division. The division was absorbed nearly intact with the
AFL–NFL merger in 1970, but Houston was moved to the AFC Central (formerly the
NFL Century Division, now the
AFC North) and replaced by the closer
Baltimore Colts (from the
NFL Coastal Division, which became the
NFC West). Despite relocating to
Indianapolis, Indiana in 1984, the
Colts continued to play in the AFC East until NFL expansion from 31 to 32 teams with the addition of the
Houston Texans (successor club in Houston to the Oilers) and 2002 re-alignment when they were moved to the
AFC South (the successor franchise to the Oilers, the Tennessee Titans, is also in the AFC South). Although
Miami is further south than the home cities of the other three teams, all of which are in the
Northeast, all four AFC East teams have historical rivalries among them, dating from their years in the AFL during the 1960s. All four teams in this division are based in the
Eastern Time Zone. None of the AFC East teams currently play within the central city of their metropolitan area (in New England's case, they also reflect the region they are based in): • The Bills play in
Orchard Park, New York; they played in the
city of Buffalo from 1960 to 1972. • The Jets play in
East Rutherford, New Jersey (and share
a stadium with the
New York Giants; they played in the New York City
borough of
Manhattan from 1960 to 1963, and in the borough of
Queens from 1964 to 1983). • The Dolphins play in
Miami Gardens, Florida, a suburb of Miami (Miami Gardens was separated from the city itself and incorporated in 2003). The Dolphins also played in the Miami neighborhood of Little Havana from 1966 to 1986 when they played at the
Orange Bowl. • The Patriots play in
Foxborough, Massachusetts (they played in Boston, the largest city in New England, until 1970 and adopted their current name in 1971 when they moved into what eventually became known as
Foxboro Stadium). Almost analogously, three out of the four
NFC East teams do not actually play within the city of their naming (only the
Philadelphia Eagles do so). All of the teams are or were coached by a first or second-generation member of the
Bill Parcells coaching tree: the Patriots had
Bill Belichick; the Dolphins had
Tony Sparano; the Jets had
Eric Mangini (who served as an assistant with both Belichick and Parcells); and the Bills had
Dick Jauron (fired on November 17, 2009), who served as an assistant with former Parcells assistant
Tom Coughlin. The Jets were coached by
Todd Bowles (2015–2018) and the Bills were coached by
Rex Ryan for 31 games (the entire 2015–16 season, and he was fired before the last game of the 2016–17 season and replaced with interim Head Coach
Anthony Lynn). Parcells himself coached the Patriots (1993–96) and the Jets (1997–99) and was Vice President of Football Operations for the Dolphins until the summer of 2010.
ESPN's
Chris Berman often calls this division the "AFC Adams" due to its geographical similarity to the old
Adams Division of the
NHL, now succeeded by the
Atlantic Division. Along with the AFC (formerly AFL) West, the AFC East is the oldest NFL division in terms of creation date (1960). ==Division lineups==