Bills Sadness Week – The Bills Meet The NFC East
Believe it or not there was a time when the NFC East was the best division in football! An understated and often forgotten aspect to the 4 Bills superbowls is that they lost all 4 to NFC East teams. The Giants were first. Then they lost to Washington. Then they lost to Dallas twice. Part of me actually kinda wishes the Eagles had won one of the two Dallas victories just for the clean sweep. Of course, there are two problems with that. One, it would give the Eagles another trophy. Two, at the time, the Cardinals were part of the NFC East. Yeah, the Cardinals. In Arizona. The NFC East is stupid.
There’s a decent argument to be made that despite the Bills being genuinely a great team, the NFC was just a much stronger conference than the AFC of the 80’s and 90’s and the Bills just weren’t able to hang. In fact, looking at the history of the Super Bowl, the NFC won EVERY SINGLE ONE from the 1984 season through the 1997 season, when Denver finally broke the curse with the Elway two-peat. This run included both Giants Parcells teams, the mighty 85 Bears, 4 of the 5 San Francisco dynasty wins, the entire Cowboys 90’s dynasty, and a couple of Washington wins as well, one being the 1991 team that beat the Bills, often considered one of the best teams of all time. All of these fairly legendary squads were constantly smashing into each other in the playoffs, learning from each other, and challenging each other. On top of that, most of these Superbowls were huge boring blowouts, more coronation of the NFC than an actual game. The only competitive matchups ended up being the Bills/Giants Wide right and the 49ers/Bengals second round. The only real AFC teams to consistently compete during this run were the Bills and Broncos. Elway really saved his legacy at the end because he got spanked 3 times, also twice by the NFC East.
So maybe the AFC just never stood a chance to begin with and the Bills paid the price. Poor Jim Kelly. I still laugh that the guy deliberately scorned Buffalo when he was drafted and went to the USFL, only to suffer the indignity of having to play for Buffalo anyway when the USFL folded. He made almost the best of it and now he’s Buffalo through and through. I respect Buffalo as a town, although I have no desire to live there or near there ever again.
Buffalo is one of those towns that if you grew up there, or spent a long time living there, is great and you’d defend it with a passion. You can see it in the fanbase. They love their city. There is a sense of team community connection that just isn’t there in places like New York or LA. Of course, most of those people haven’t lived anywhere else, so they don’t understand that not having 2 feet of snow on the ground for 6 straight months is actually possible and good. Buffalo is fine. It’s not as bad as the jokes make it out to be, but it’s not as great as the residents say it is. It’s fine. I’m glad the people are happy there.
The NFC East was good? What nonsense is this? You’ve been making comics about how chaotically terrible that division is for most of the lifespan of DP (including two comics named “The NFC East)
It’s what ruined the Pats perfecto in 2008, it was glorious!
Seems like the AFC East in general has a tendency to get smacked in the big game by the NFC East. Two of Miami’s 3 SB losses came against NFCE teams and Brady’s struggles against that division have been more than noted on here and across the internet in general.
It’s worth pointing out that the Cardinals were NOT based in Arizona when they initially went to the NFCE. They were based in St. Louis for almost 30 years, which is east of Dallas. So it’s not as crazy as you make it seem, but I will grant you it took about a decade after they moved to Arizona for them to leave the East.
That leaves Dallas as the only real outlier, and the logic for that is pretty simple: the NFL would financially collapse without the NFCE rivalries. The Jints, Iggley Wiggleys, and those crazy Commie WTFers hate the Cowpokes like nobody else ever could. The NFL knows this. That’s why they stay in the East.
Of all the weird Divisional placements, I agree the Cardinals weren’t that out of place. If anything the NFC West had to be the strangest division in football for the longest time given they had the Atlanta Falcons and later on the Carolina Panthers. Two teams that are about as East Coast as you can possibly be and neither of which moved from cities at least in the ballpark of the region their division supposedly represents, unlike the Cardinals.
And currently the Colts being in the “South” is pretty damn weird. I know a lot of Indiana ACTS and THINKS like it’s the South (source: lived there for way too many years), but if you look at a map, it’s pretty hard to call that south of anything other than Michigan and maybe Chicago (I haven’t looked up exact lat/long readings but I assume Indy is still south of Chicago).
You could argue that the Ravens should probably be in the East, Dolphins in the South, and the Colts in the North… but it would disrupt some rivalries for sure.
Ideally, Miami should have moved to the AFCS while Indianapolis stayed in the AFCE. The main reason the Colts ended up moving was because Miami had pretty fierce rivalries with the Jets and Patriots at the time (and even the Bills to an extent) whereas the Colts weren’t really harsh rivals with anyone (Brady-Manning wasn’t a thing when the divisions were realigned in ’02). Guessing the NFL didn’t want to disrupt that.
In fairness, only 3 states separate Indiana from the Gulf of Mexico. That counts for something, right? X’D
“NFC East…Except Philly”.
Hoo boy Dave, did you ever jinx the crap outta this one.
Hmmm, I’d have to think about that one for awhile, but you make some solid points. Additionally, Seattle flipped from the AFC, which – if my failing memory doesn’t screw me – is the only time that’s happened. That alone is WAY WHACKIER than the Cardinals being in the East when they were in St. Louis.
Sort of. In their inaugural seasons, Seattle was in the NFC while Tampa Bay was AFC and then they both switched conferences in their second years because the NFL wanted their two new franchises to play as many teams as possible. Then in 2002 the Seahawks moved back to the NFC best the NFC West really needed some actual western teams.
I didn’t realize Dave was doing daily posts all week long, so you probably won’t see this, but thanks for the correction. I knew my brain would fail me, lol. I completely forgot Tampa Bay being in the AFC, and I didn’t know Seattle started in the NFC. Learn something new every day, thanks! =)
Ah I forgot about Seattle jumping conferences. Iirc that was due to the Texans being guaranteed a spot in the AFC (as opposed to simply, you know, joining the NFC who had a vacant spot at the time).
I’m guessing they didn’t want to stick Houston in the NFC West since it’s farther East than Dallas who were in the NFCE, and they absolutely were not going to disrupt any of Dallas’ divisional rivalries by moving them to the NFCW.
Jerry Jones was never going to allow the Texans to be an NFC team, plus, I think there was a thought among the owners that former Oilers fans would respond well to being in the AFC like the Oilers were and that putting the Texans in a division with the former Oilers would create a natural rival for both the Texans and the Titans, who at the time had no and very little history with potential rivals respectively.
The Seahwaks, remarkably, have jumped conferences twice. In 1976 they were placed in the NFC West while fellow expansion team Tampa Bay was placed in the AFC West (especially odd since the AFC Central had only 4 teams, two of whom were East of Tampa, and could have accommodated them). In 1977 the Seahawks were moved to the AFC West while the Buccaneers joined their long-time home in the NFC Central.
What was the reasoning behind the Falcons in the NFC West?
The NFC West began life in 1967 as the Coastal Division of the NFL’s Western Conference, part of a big realignment of the NFL that created 4 divisions whose names all started with a C (Coastal, Capital, Central, and Century), only one of which was geographically named (the Central, which was also the only division that made geographic sense, a big reason why it exists today with its same 4 original teams). The Coastal Division consisted of teams in cities on or near the coast that did not get shuffled to other divisions (in no small part due to the desire to keep Dallas in the same division as Philly and Washington): Baltimore, San Francisco, the LA Rams, and Atlanta. It was renamed in 1970 to the NFC West when the NFL and AFL merged and Baltimore moved to the AFC East (replaced by New Orleans).
The NFL was not alone in this strangeness either, the Atlanta Braves were in the National League West from 1969 to 1993, though they also spent those years there with another Eastern Time Zone team, the Cincinnati Reds.
Also, the question begs to be asked. If you live in NYC, do you have more of a claim to the teams that play right across the river in NJ, and within view of your billion-a-month condo… or the team that plays 6 hours north by car, but technically is the one within your state’s lines?
Sure, sure, you could say “Tri-state area, b#*$es,” and then we all go home saying everyone in NJ/NY/CT has an equal share to lay claim on any of the teams in any of those states. But still, it’s an interesting quandary to ponder.
I’ve had to consider it most of my life, because back before the internet, everyone was always coming up to me like, “You live in NJ! You can’t root for the NY Giants!” It’s such a weird thing to put on people – ignoring that they were all ignorant dum#$&ses. You grow up in a place, you had no choice in the matter. Why the hell should you be restricted to cheering for teams that also live there?
The Jersey Giants have the best claim for the tri-state team since they have had home stadiums in all three states.
I am 100% ashamed, as a Giants fan now living in Connecticut… how did I not know they played some home games here??? Dang. Well, I’m totally saving that stat for a rainy day with my Patriot-fan inlaws. X’D
Good point that’s just not known to people outside the area. People pretty far south in Jersey and folks in Connecticut get the local NYC channels. All those ads are marketed to the tri-state area. “Go to your local tri-state dealer” etc.
Yea, I threw it in there just as a caveat, because it really is the easy answer for this particular situation. I’m glad someone else know the hilarity of being told to go to your local tri-state dealer.
But if you’re living an hour west of Cincinnati, you’re equidistant to Indianapolis. So I imagine a similar situation would arise, unless they also have some sort of bi/tri/quad-state area I’m just not aware of.
“NFC East (except Philly}”
,,,and Phoenix
When the Jets won Super Bowl III, they played their home games in Shea Stadium. So, the State of New York has 1 Super Bowl.
The Jets were playing at Shea Stadium when they won the Super Bowl, so I guess that is the one Super Bowl for the state of New York
I’ve lived in 5 different states (and even more towns/regions) and visited around 30 states extensively (more than just driving through) and I still think that having 2 feet of snow on the ground for 6 straight months is actually possible and good. I’d take that any day of LA weather, especially as we suffer through the ugly part of Midwestern weather right now, with hot and humid nights. Everybody’s different, but I’d hate to live anywhere that didn’t have snow at least some portion of the year.
agreed on the “some portion of the year” part
fully half the year (don’t forget the accompanying gray skies) is a bit excessive
The first game of that streak was Miami’s last trip to the big dance, following Marino’s superhuman (for the time) second season. They had the huge misfortune to run into a 49ers-shaped wall, just as they hit their stride as the team of the 80s.
I still wonder what #13 would have done if he was around in his prime now.
Jets won the Super Bowl while their home stadium was in NY. The Jersey Giants, however, were never Super Bowl champs as a New York team.
Go Bills!
Well, the Jets did play at Shea Stadium when they won Super Bowl III, so New York has that Super Bowl…
Alright, now you all can dunk my head in the toilet.
I see several folks beat me to this. Apologizes for the redundancy, I left this page open and did not refresh it before typing my comment.
I’m fine with the 90s Buffalo Bills pain.
Though, at the end can we do a follow up on the guy who flipped a table at the Bills drafting the “wrong Josh”? Because I was him and I’m so happy I was wrong.
In fact, as an upstater I felt no connect to the Giants/Jets because of their NJ connection. Fuck the Devils and Nets too, don’t care if they moved to Brooklyn. Siding with the Bills is respectable, siding with anything Jersey/Pennsylvania/Masshole is treason.
And when you think about the fact that the Eagles SHOULD have been there to beat them in 1991, if not for a literal nightmare zone of QB injuries…
And when you think about the fact that the Eagles SHOULD have been there to beat them in 1991 with that defense, if not for a literal nightmare zone of QB injuries…