The Oakland Raiders travel to western New York this weekend for a match-up with an original American Football League rival, the Buffalo Bills, at New Era Field in Orchard Park.
The teams first met in a preseason game, a 26-21 Bills' win on Aug. 24, 1960, and split their first two regular season meetings, the Bills won 38-9 at War Memorial Stadium in Buffalo and the Raiders won 20-7 at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco. They would meet twice a year after that until 1968, except for 1966. The teams split the series again in 1961, as the Raiders Nov. 5 win at Buffalo was their second and last victory of the season. The Bills won two close, low scoring games in 1962; the teams split in 1963 with each team winning at home; split again in 1964, again with each winning on their home turf; Buffalo won both 1965 meetings; and the Bills won the only 1966 contest.
In March of 1967, the Raiders traded quarterback Tom Flores and wide receiver Art Powell to Buffalo in exchange for quarterback Daryle Lamonica and wide receiver Glenn Bass. Lamonica led the Raiders to a 13-1 record, was named AFL Player of the Year, and became the first Raiders' quarterback to throw for more than 3,000 yards in a season as the Silver and Black won the AFL Championship. Flores saw action in 14 games with three starts for the Bills that year, and threw for 260 yards and eight interceptions. Powell caught 20 passes for 346 yards and four touchdowns. Bass was traded to Houston before the season started. The Raiders won both meetings against Buffalo during their 1967 championship run.
Photos of the past matchups between the Oakland Raiders and Buffalo Bills.
The Raiders swept the series in 1968, and won the final meeting of the decade, and only match-up of the season, 50-21, in Oakland in 1969.
The Raiders and Bills only teed it up three times in the 1970s, with the Raiders taking two. The Raiders defeated the Bills 28-16 in Oakland in 1972, and 34-13 in 1977 again in Oakland. The Bills won in Buffalo, 21-20 in 1974.
Not many meetings took place in the 1980s, just four, and the teams split. After the Bills took the 1980 meeting 24-7 in Buffalo, the Raiders, based in Los Angeles, took the next two – 27-24 in Buffalo in 1983, and 34-21 in 1987 in Los Angeles. The Bills topped the Raiders 37-21 in Buffalo in 1988.
The series became a bit of a rivalry in the 1990s with the teams meeting six times. The teams split those six match-ups. Buffalo won 38-24 in 1990 in western New York, and 30-27 in overtime in Los Angeles in 1991. The Raiders responded with a 20-3 win in 1992 in LA and a 25-24 victory in 1993 in Buffalo. Five years later, the Bills topped the relocated to Oakland Raiders 44-21 in Buffalo. The following year, 1999, the Raiders stunned the Bills 20-14 in Buffalo.
The teams have met seven times since 2002 with the Raiders winning five and the Bills grabbing two. On their way to Super Bowl XXXVII, the Raiders zoomed past the Bills in Buffalo 49-31, won a tight one 13-10 in 2004 in Oakland and ran away with a 38-17 decision in 2005, also in Oakland. The Bills won a pair of last-second decisions in 2008 and 2011 in Buffalo. The Raiders have won the last two meetings, both in Oakland – 26-24 in 2014 and 38-24 last season.
The Bills have won the only two playoff meetings – the 1990 AFC Championship game, 51-3, the week after running back Bo Jackson was lost to a career-ending injury in an AFC Divisional playoff win over the Cincinnati Bengals and a 1993 AFC playoff game, 29-23 – both in Buffalo.
The Raiders will be looking to even their record at 4-4 after last week's huge Thursday Night Football win over the Kansas City Chiefs, and the Bills (4-2) look to keep pace with the 5-2 New England Patriots in the AFC East.
