AFC East The American Football Conference – Eastern Division or AFC East is a division of the National Football League ' s American Football Conference . There are four members : Buffalo Bills , Miami Dolphins , New England Patriots ( representing Boston , formerly known as the Boston Patriots through 1970 ) , and New York Jets ( formerly nicknamed the Titans through 1962 ) . All are former members of the American Football League ( AFL ) , three of which are charter members of the AFL ( the Dolphins were an AFL expansion team added in 1966 ) . The division was formed in 1960 as the AFL Eastern Division . The Bills , Patriots , and ( New York ) Titans were joined by the Houston Oilers in the original alignment , with the Dolphins joining in 1966 . 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 1st or second generation member of the Bill Parcells Coaching Tree , the Patriots have Bill Belichick , the Dolphins have 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 lineups . 1960 – 62 Four of the teams above are enfranchised in the American Football League ' s Eastern Division . 1963 – 65 New York Titans renamed New York Jets . 1966 – 69 Miami Dolphins enfranchised . 1970 Due to the AFL - NFL Merger , the AFL Eastern Division becomes AFC East . Baltimore Colts moved in from the Capitol Division ( renamed NFC East ) . Houston moved to AFC Central . 1971 – 83 Boston moved to Foxborough as New England Patriots . 1984 – 2001 Baltimore moved to Indianapolis . 2002 – present Indianapolis moved to the AFC South division . Division champions . The Bills tied the Patriots for their 1963 regular season division title , but lost the ensuing playoff game . < br >