The American Football Conference – Eastern Division or AFC East is a division of the National Football League's American Football Conference. There are currently four teams that reside in the division: Buffalo Bills of Orchard Park, Miami Dolphins of Miami Gardens, New England Patriots of Foxborough, and New York Jets of Florham Park.
Since the division's enfranchisement in 1960, with the creation of the American Football League, the division has represented in 18 Super Bowls and won 7 of them, with the most recent during the 2004 National Football League season by the New England Patriots. The most recent appearance in the Super Bowl by an AFC East team was the Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI.
Entering 2012 the Patriots had the most wins in the division's history, with a record of 414-365-9, with a playoff record of 23-16 (3-4 in Super Bowls). The Dolphins were second at 400-300-4 (having played 84 fewer games than their division rivals) with a playoff record of 20-20 (2-3 in Super Bowls). The Bills were at 364-416-8 with a playoff record of 14-15 but winless having gone to four consecutive Super Bowls. The Jets held a record of 359-421-8, with a playoff record of 12-13 including victory in Super Bowl III.
In 2012, the Patriots broke a tie with the Dolphins for winning the most division titles; New England has won 15 division titles to Miami's 14. The Bills have won ten division titles, and the Jets have won four.
Two teams formerly in the division combined for ten AFL/AFC East titles - the Houston Oilers (now the Tennessee Titans) won four division titles during the AFL era while the Baltimore-Indianapolis Colts won six division titles in the 32 seasons they were in the division.
Read more about AFC East: AFL Eastern Division, AFC East, Division Lineups, Division Champions, Wild Card Qualifiers, Schedule Assignments
Famous quotes containing the word east:
“The East is the hearthside of America. Like any home, therefore, it has the defects of its virtues. Because it is a long-lived-in house, it bursts its seams, is inconvenient, needs constant refurbishing. And some of the family resources have been spent. To attain the privacy that grown-up people find so desirable, Easterners live a harder life than people elsewhere. Today it is we and not the frontiersman who must be rugged to survive.”
—Phyllis McGinley (1905–1978)