Are the Patriots a rival?

[Success]

When we play the Pats, I always check out their boards.  It can be an eye-opener. 

 

It's all very "ho hum" in their world.  Hate the Jets, hate/respect the Dolphins. The Bills? I don't think about them.  It's cute how their fans get so into the game. They are not a rival.

 

I suppose a natural reaction after 2 decades.  But we owned the division in the '90's, and I always thought of the division foes as rivals, no matter how bad they were (and the Pats were pretty bad for a long time).  In other sports, some of my teams have had stretches of decades where they owned other teams in their division - but I always considered division teams to be rivals. You play them more, there are more tight games, and the games just mean more.  Those are the games you want to win.

 

A rivalry is a 2-way street.  I don't think we can consider them a rival if their fans don't consider us a rival.  They'd be more of a nemesis.

 

What say you?  I reject that they aren't a rival.  I see that as more of a younger Pats fan/entitled take.  To me, the Patriots will always be our rival - even if we beat them 30x in a row.

 

But maybe I'm wrong. Maybe they're just a nemesis.

 

 

 

 

[The Firebaugh Kid]

Every Bills fan on Earth HATES New England  

[TheBrownBear]

No.  The Dolphins are our rival because of their dominance in the 70s/80s and our dominance in the late 80s/90s.  Bills/Pats doesn't reach that level since the teams were never really relevant at the same time (until this season).  Don't get me wrong, I still hate them.

[Your Brown Eye]

To Bills fans yes, to Pats fans no

[oldmanfan]

To anyone my age it will always be the Fish

[Success]

2 minutes ago, The Firebaugh Kid said:

Every Bills fan on Earth HATES New England  

 

Well, every other fan hates them too.  I think we might possibly hate them more. But it's close - the vitriol about the Pats, at least online, is unlike anything I've seen for any other team.

 

It's better to be hated than pitied. But they're hated way too much.  I'm sure the Bills will get some hate if we start winning SB's, but I hope it's never that bad.

 

Just now, oldmanfan said:

To anyone my age it will always be the Fish

 

I used to loathe the Fish.  But I've pulled for them to beat the Pats too many times.  It's dissipated almost completely.

 

[GETTOTHE50]

There’s no organization I hate more in all of sports. It’s sad the bills let them run train on us over and over again. The bills have no one else to blame but themselves for that from 2001-2020

[Comebackkid]

i would think if its the pats that stand between us and being division champs every year, then they are our rival...

[GoBills808]

Feels that way but maybe it’s just me

 

 I suppose if we beat them a few more times they might consider it

[Augie]

39 minutes ago, Success said:

When we play the Pats, I always check out their boards.  It can be an eye-opener. 

 

It's all very "ho hum" in their world.  Hate the Jets, hate/respect the Dolphins. The Bills? I don't think about them.  It's cute how their fans get so into the game. They are not a rival.

 

I suppose a natural reaction after 2 decades.  But we owned the division in the '90's, and I always thought of the division foes as rivals, no matter how bad they were (and the Pats were pretty bad for a long time).  In other sports, some of my teams have had stretches of decades where they owned other teams in their division - but I always considered division teams to be rivals. You play them more, there are more tight games, and the games just mean more.  Those are the games you want to win.

 

A rivalry is a 2-way street.  I don't think we can consider them a rival if their fans don't consider us a rival.  They'd be more of a nemesis.

 

What say you?  I reject that they aren't a rival.  I see that as more of a younger Pats fan/entitled take.  To me, the Patriots will always be our rival - even if we beat them 30x in a row.

 

But maybe I'm wrong. Maybe they're just a nemesis.

 

 

 

 

 

The expression probably existed before I heard Andy Roddick say it, but when asked about his “rivalry” with Roger Federer, he said it’s not really a rivalry between the hammer and the nail. 

 

We need wins to make it more than an emotional game for fans. 

[nedboy7]

I see them as a nice friend you can picnic with on a Sunday. 

[RaoulDuke79]

47 minutes ago, Your Brown Eye said:

To Bills fans yes, to Pats fans no

This is correct. At least for the past 20 years or so. Hopefully times are a changing. 

[thenorthremembers]

No.  They are THE RIVAL.  

[streetkings01]

46 minutes ago, GETTOTHE50 said:

There’s no organization I hate more in all of sports. It’s sad the bills let them run train on us over and over again. The bills have no one else to blame but themselves for that from 2001-2020

Patriots ran over everyone in that span…..let’s not act like we were the only team that couldn’t beat them.

Edited December 23, 2021 by streetkings01

[34-78-83]

A rivalry requires competitive balance, or close to it. So we may NOW have a rivalry with them which you could at least subjectively say started with them in the 2nd Pats game in 2019. Prior to that, not a rivalry.

[Motorin']

Yeah, no rivalry. Belichick said they may even skip the game and go golfing. 

[RochesterLifer]

Just to share the rivalry love, this is from WEEI in Boston:

 

https://www.audacy.com/weei/sports/patriots/bills-super-bowl-window-is-closed

 

We really need to shut their bull$#!t down Sunday

[butch rolle]

I think the OP is pretty much spot on with this notion of a rivalry needing to be reciprocal.  I live about 20 minutes from Gillette, firmly entrenched in Patriots country.  As a lifelong Bills fan, I can tell you it has been a tough stretch.  My estimation is that Bills fans talk about the Patriots 100x more than the fans here even think about our team.  They've completely written off last year's Cam-led losses as an aberration.  Foxsports put up that Bills Fans billboard across from Gillette and I stopped by to take some pictures today while doing some shopping next to the stadium.  I actually ran into an ex Patriot in the checkout line and while discussing that billboard he mentioned, "Wow, you guys are strangely obsessed with us".  It reminds me of living here in the early 2000's when the Red Sox were still on their 80 year championship drought and were constantly chanting "Yankees Suck!" even at games where the Yankees weren't involved.  Meanwhile, my friends from NY/NJ explained that no one in NY gave a damn about the Sox and that it was odd how persistent Red Sox Nation was.   Same goes for the old Bills/Dolphins rivalry.  We went the entire 70's without beating them once.  I was born in 79 and really didn't get into the Bills until the late 80's.  By that point we were consistently beating the Dolphins so I never understood the hatred of the Fins.  That's because I never had to experience the suffering of the previous decades.  Especially over the last 4-5 year where we have particularly owned Miami, it feels harder to get rev'd up for a "division rival"!  

 

All of that being said, if the Bills can pull it off this Sunday, take the division, and outlast the Patriots in the playoffs, it will go a long way towards reigniting the reciprocal hate from Pats country.

[BigAl2526]

I think for years the rivalry has been more in the minds of Buffalo fans than in the minds of Patriot fans.  They're still the most "entitled" fans in the league believing their team will win most games just by showing up.  Buffalo got their attention last season, but now, they are probably just reasoning that 2020 was a rare off year for them.  If Buffalo can win this weekend and go on to take the division, Patriot fans will take the Bills more seriously, and the Bills will probably be more of a rivalry game for Patriot fans going forward.

 

[Another Fan]

1 hour ago, streetkings01 said:

Patriots ran over everyone in that span…..let’s not act like we were the only team that couldn’t beat them.

Yeah but the Bills were like especially the Patriots whipping boy.  Tom Brady only lost two legit games to Buffalo, one in 2003 and the other one in 2011.  
 

Miami at least had a winning home record vs the Patriots in that span