Bills – Dolphins rivalry The Bills – Dolphins rivalry is a National Football League ( NFL ) rivalry between the Buffalo Bills and Miami Dolphins franchises . The teams , who are both members of the American Football Conference East Division , play two games against one another per season . In the 92 regular season games between the teams in the series , the Dolphins hold a 55 – 36 – 1 head - to - head advantage as of December 2011 . The teams have also met four times in the NFL playoffs . The Bills are 3 – 1 in the postseason contests , including a victory in the 1992 AFC Championship Game . History . 1966 to 1969 . After Miami joined the American Football League ( AFL ) for the 1966 season , it played against Buffalo for the first time on September 18 . The host Bills posted 48 points in the first half of the game , and won 58 – 24 . In the second game between the teams , and the first to be played in Miami , the Bills shut out the Dolphins 29 – 0 . The following year , Miami defeated Buffalo for the first time ; a late 31 - yard Bob Griese touchdown pass to Howard Twilley gave the Dolphins a 17 – 14 win . In 1968 , the teams played to a 14 – 14 tie , the only one in the history of the rivalry . After two consecutive Dolphins victories , the Bills won the teams ' second game in 1969 , 28 – 3 . The game , which featured two receiving touchdowns by O . J . Simpson , proved to be their last win in the series for 11 years . 1970 to 1979 . Following the 1969 season , the AFL and NFL completed their AFL – NFL merger by re - aligning the NFL ' s divisions . The Bills and Dolphins joined the NFL ' s new AFC East division , guaranteeing that they would play twice per year , once at each team ' s home stadium . In the 1970s , Miami won all 20 meetings between the teams ; 12 of the victories came by 10 or more points . One of the most notable games of this period came in 1972 , the year the Dolphins completed an undefeated season . The closest game by final score that Miami played during the season was its first game against the Bills , a 24 – 23 Dolphins win in the Miami Orange Bowl . Two years later , the Orange Bowl hosted a contest that Chris Iorfida of CBC Sports later called " A rare competitive game between the clubs during the mid - to late - 1970s , and an exciting one . " The Dolphins held a 28 – 21 lead when Bills reserve quarterback Gary Marangi passed for the tying touchdown in the final minute of the game . Miami responded 37 seconds later with a 23 - yard Don Nottingham run for the touchdown that gave the team a 35 – 28 win . By November 1978 , the Dolphins ' winning streak in the series had reached 17 games , a mark tied for the longest streak in NFL history for one team against another . The press in the Buffalo area frequently noted this fact . The Dolphins broke the record with a 25 – 24 result in Buffalo ' s Rich Stadium on November 12 of that year . With 9 – 7 and 17 – 7 victories in 1979 , Miami ' s streak reached 20 games by the end of the decade . 1980 to 1989 . On September 7 , 1980 , the Bills recorded their first victory versus the Dolphins in 21 games . With a pair of touchdowns in the final quarter , Buffalo won 17 – 7 . After the conclusion , fans at Rich Stadium rushed the field in celebration , tearing down one of the goal posts in the process . In 1983 , the Dolphins hosted the Bills in rookie Dan Marino ' s first NFL start . The Dolphins overcame a 14 – 0 gap to lead 35 – 28 in the final minute before Bills quarterback Joe Ferguson led a game - tying comeback . The game in the Miami Orange Bowl extended to overtime , where Dolphins placekicker Uwe von Schamann was unsuccessful on two potential game - winning field goal attempts . The Bills won 38 – 35 when Joe Danelo made a 36 - yard field goal attempt late in overtime ; it was Buffalo ' s first road win in the rivalry for 17 years . Ferguson had 419 yards passing and five touchdowns in the game ; the former set a franchise record . Other than those two contests , Miami won 11 of the other 12 games between the teams from 1980 to 1986 . United Press International termed the matchup " one of pro football ' s most lopsided rivalries " in 1983 . The Bills , however , won the series ' last six games in the 1980s . The first of those came in October 1987 , when the Bills won 34 – 31 in overtime after trailing the Dolphins 21 – 0 in the first half ; the game featured six combined touchdown passes by the teams ' quarterbacks , Marino of Miami and Jim Kelly of Buffalo . The last of the contests for the decade was a 1989 game decided by a two - yard rushing touchdown by Kelly as time expired . 1990 to 1999 . In the , the Bills and Dolphins met for the first time in the postseason . Buffalo won the divisional round game , held at Rich Stadium , 44 – 34 , as Kelly threw for three touchdowns . Two seasons later , the teams met again in the playoffs , this time in the . Players from both teams commented on the rivalry ' s intensity at the time ; Richmond Webb , a Miami offensive lineman , said , " I don ' t know how it got started – it was a long time before I got here – but these two teams don ' t like each other . It ' s like the Game of the Year every time we play them . " Before the Bills ' last regular season game against the Houston Oilers , Miami safety Louis Oliver had shirts delivered to Oilers players , encouraging them to defeat the Bills ; host Houston did win the game 27 – 3 , giving the Dolphins the AFC East title . In response , Bills running back Thurman Thomas said it was " typical of the Miami Dolphins . . . to have someone else do their dirty work . " A week later , the Oilers fell 41 – 38 to the Bills in the wild card playoff round , then on January 17 , 1993 at Joe Robbie Stadium , the Bills defeated the Dolphins 29 – 10 to advance to their third consecutive Super Bowl . The first game in the series in the 1993 season , in Rich Stadium , saw an incident where Miami linebacker Bryan Cox gestured at Bills fans , having previously said that he would " retire from football if I am ever traded up there . " Multiple Dolphins players later said the spectators responded in a similar fashion towards them . After a 22 – 13 Dolphins victory over the Bills , sportswriter Bill Plaschke called the game " a considerable step toward making their rivalry the ugliest in the league " . The teams met twice more in the playoffs during the 1990s . On December 30 , 1995 , Buffalo broke the league record for rushing yards in a game with 341 , winning 37 – 22 . This was Dolphins head coach Don Shula ' s last game in the league . Three seasons later , the teams met at Pro Player Stadium on January 2 , 1999 for their fourth of the decade , which the Dolphins won 24 – 17 . In regular season games during the decade , the Bills held a 10 – 8 won – loss advantage . 2000 to 2011 . In 2006 , Buffalo ' s home game against the Dolphins did not sell out , leading the " Niagara Gazette " ' s Pat Murray to write that the rivalry had declined . On the NFL ' s website , Nick Bakay attributed this to the reduced success of the Bills and Dolphins in the time period . Each team won half of the 20 games in the series during the 2000s . In 2008 , the Bills hosted Miami at the Rogers Centre in Toronto , Canada ; it was the first time the country had been the site of a regular season NFL game . Miami won the contest 16 – 3 . The most recent game between the teams was a 30 – 23 Dolphins victory in Buffalo on December 18 , 2011 . Characteristics . Iorfida wrote in 2008 that the Bills and Dolphins had " one of the stranger rivalries in sports " due to the differences between Buffalo and Miami . In 1980 , " The Miami News " ' Joe Crittenden referred to " the contrast between the two cities – Miami , the resort center in the subtropics and Buffalo , the snowfall capital of the east " . He wrote that , when the Dolphins were building their 20 - game winning streak in the 1970s , the differences contributed to the " intensity " of the rivalry . The CBC also noted the long distance between the teams ' cities as an oddity . Despite this distance , they are both members of the AFC East , and have played at least two games per year since the Dolphins first joined the AFL . Games between the Bills and Dolphins were often significant in the league standings during the 1980s and 1990s , and " Monday Night Football " had nine games from the rivalry during the period . The Bills – Dolphins rivalry has been called the most significant for Buffalo ; Bakay , a Bills fan from the city , called Miami the Bills ' " most hated divisional rival " . In addition to their rivalry with the Bills , the Dolphins share one with the New York Jets , who " might be the most bitter foe for Miami " , according to the CBC . Dolphins player Oliver offered a different assessment in 1993 , saying " It ' s the biggest rivalry we have , us and Buffalo . " In addition , both teams share rivalries with the New England Patriots .