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The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo, New York, metropolitan area, playing their home games in the suburb of Orchard Park. more...

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They are currently members of the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL). The Bills began competitive play in 1960 as a charter member of the American Football League and joined the NFL as part of the AFL-NFL Merger.

The Bills won two consecutive AFL titles in 1964 and 1965, but the club has not won a championship since the merger. Buffalo is also the only team to win four consecutive American Football Conference Championships, though they failed to win any of the subsequent Super Bowls.

The Bills are named after Buffalo Bill Cody, the winning entry in a local contest. The Bills' cheerleaders are known as the Buffalo Jills. The official mascot is Billy Buffalo.

The Bills conduct summer training camp at Saint John Fisher College in Pittsford, NY.

They are currently the only NFL team to play their home games within New York State. Both the New York Jets and the New York Giants play in the suburb of East Rutherford, New Jersey outside of New York City.

Franchise history

The AFL years

When Lamar Hunt announced formation of the American Football League in the summer of 1959, Detroit Lions minority owner Ralph Wilson decided to field a team in the new league. After being turned down in his effort to put a team in Miami, he next turned to Buffalo. This effort was successful, and he sent Hunt a telegram with the now-famous words, "Count me in with Buffalo."

After a public contest, the team adopted the same name as the former All-America Football Conference team in Buffalo. On October 28, 1959; the Buffalo Bills officially became the 8th member of the AFL.

On August 8, 1961, the Bills were the first (and only) American Football League team to lose to a Canadian Football League team, the nearby Hamilton Tiger-Cats. The score of the game was 38-21 in favor of the home team.

During the 1960s, the team won AFL championships in both 1964 and 1965 and were one of only three teams to appear in an AFL championship game for three consecutive years, and the only AFL team to play in the post-season for four straight years, 1963 through 1966.

In the AFL, a predominantly offensive league, the Bills were a great defensive team. In 1964, the defense allowed Buffalo to become the first American Football League team to win 13 games in a season (including the league championship game). During that year, they allowed just 913 yards rushing on 300 attempts during the regular season, a pro football record. The same defense registered fifty quarterback sacks, a team record that stands today, even though it was established in a 14-game season. The 1964 defense also allowed only four touchdowns rushing all season, and started a string that would extend into the 1965 season: seventeen straight games without allowing an opponent to score a rushing touchdown. Eight members of the 1964 squad were on that year's AFL Eastern Division All-Star Team, including cornerback Butch Byrd. Three were eventually named to the American Football League's All-Time Team, and six to the second team. The only professional football player ever inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame without ever playing in the NFL was a member of the 1964 Bills; guard Billy Shaw.

Read more at Wikipedia.org