The Jets had one good year and won the Super Bowl riding the charisma of Namath. It happened in the early days of the modern NFL and legitimized the AFL so it’s a big deal. Other than that, they’ve been a mediocre disappointment for their fans. The Bills have had some great years but have also been mostly mediocre. Rarely outright terrible. So, for most of the history with the Jets it has been a clash of unremarkable and mediocre teams. Forgettable games for the most part. Only the bettors cared. The early 80’s had some good games when we had Knox annd Fergie and we arrived as a force when we beat them to go to the playoffs in the late 80’s. They had a few good teams in the late 90s and beat us in some big games when Flutie was QB. I think they even went to the AFC Championship against Denver.
But, the rivalry with the Pats and Dolphins seems much bigger because they’ve been very successful at times so we thought it was a huge deal when we played them. For 17 years we’d get super excited for the Pats games and the Pats thought we were as scary as navel lint. Now the worm has turned.
Funny thing is, the Jets might now be decent and the only team that’ll give us some trouble this year. They’ve always gotten good players and put together good rosters and had hired good coaches but it never works. They’ve never built a sustainable winning culture like the Steelers, Niners, Pats and now us.
Having lived through the 70s I’ll always think of Miami as the main rival. I’m still wired to hate them. These are great times and enjoy it because I think we’ll continue to pound them and the others to dust for many years to come.