American Football Conference East Division 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 , 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 Bowl s 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 have 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 are 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 are at 364 - 416 - 8 with a playoff record of 14 - 15 but winless having gone to four consecutive Super Bowls . The Jets presently hold a record of 359 - 421 - 8 , with a playoff record of 12 - 13 including victory in Super Bowl III . The Patriots and Dolphins have won 14 division titles apiece ; the Bills have won ten division titles , and the Jets have won four . AFL Eastern Division . 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 . AFC East . 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 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 farther 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 . None of the AFC East teams currently plays within the central city of their metropolitan area : All of the teams are or were coached by a first or second generation member of the Bill Parcells Coaching Tree : the Patriots have 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 are now coached by Rex Ryan and the Bills are now coached by Chan Gailey . Parcells himself coached the Patriots ( 1993 – 6 ) and the Jets ( 1997 – 9 ) and was Vice President of Football Operations for the Dolphins until summer , 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 known as the Northeast Division . Along with the AFC ( formerly AFL ) West , the AFC East is the oldest NFL division in terms of creation date ( 1960 ) . Division champions . Realigned from NFL West in 1970 merger . Known as the Baltimore Colts before 1984 . Realigned into the AFC South beginning with the 2002 NFL season . < br >