NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE
AMERICAN CONFERENCE EAST
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|---|---|---|
| BUFFALO | MIAMI | NEW ENGLAND |
| BILLS | DOLPHINS | PATRIOTS |
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| NEW YORK |
| JETS |
COMMENTS
The most recent helmet change in this division came in 2002, when the Bills changed their stripe sequence.
BUFFALO BILLS
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|---|---|---|
| 1960 | 1961 - 1964 | 1965 - 1973 |
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|---|---|---|
| 1974 - 1975 | 1976 - 1981 | 1982 - 1983 |
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|---|---|---|
| 1984 - 1986 | 1994 special | 1987 - 2001 |
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| 2002 - present | |
The Bills were a founding member of the AFL in 1960. They entered the NFL in 1970 when the two leagues merged. Around 1981, the charging buffalo logo was noticeably enlarged.
Its difficult to see at this size, but the stripe sequence on the helmets was changed in 2002. It is, are you ready for this, white-royal blue-nickel-Navy Blue-nickel-royal blue-white.
MIAMI DOLPHINS
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|---|---|---|
| 1966; 1969 - 1973 | 1970 preseason | 1966 - 1968; 1973 - 1979 |
| 1994 throwback | 2003 throwback |
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|---|---|
| 1980 - 1996 | 1997 - present |
The Dolphins were an AFL expansion team in 1966. They joined the NFL in 1970 when the two leagues merged. The Dolphins switched between the original "head in the sun" helmet logo to the "head out of the sun" logo repeatedly in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Contributor Bob Gassel writes, "The "in the sun" log was worn in the Dolphin's initial season of 1966, but only for the first three games. They then switched to the "out of sun" version for the remainder of 1966 and all of 1967 and 1968.
Starting in 1969, the Dolphins again went to the "in the sun" version, except for the 1970 preseason, when they went logo-less. This continued until the final regular season game of 1973, when about half of the team (mostly linemen) started wearing the "out of sun" logo. This continued for the 1973 playoffs, including Super Bowl VIII. This "out of sun" logo was much smaller than the one worn in the 1960s.
In 1974, the Dolphins went exclusively to this smaller "out of sun" logo. Sometime around 1990, perhaps due to a change in decal manufacturer, the dolphin in the logo (but not the sun) became slightly larger. The "in the sun" logo was brought back for the 1994 throwback games; but the 2003 Thanksgiving Day throwback, supposedly based on the 1973 uniforms, actually used the early 1990's version of the logo.
One last note, the helmet striping on the 1966-67 era helmet was much thinner and spread apart than what was used from 1968 onward." Whew. Thanks Bob. Bob based his information on official highlight films from the 1966 to 1974 seasons.
As with the Bills above, its difficult to see at this size, but the stripe sequence on the current helmets is, aqua-navy blue-white-orange-white-navy blue-aqua. Officially the dolphin's orange is "coral" which seems appropriate for their moniker, but not really appropriate for a football team.
NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS
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|---|---|---|
| 1960 preseason | 1960 | 1960 |
| (first few games) | (rest of the season) |
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|---|---|---|
| 1961 - 1964 | 1965 - 1981; | 1982 - 1989 |
| 1994 special | 2002 special |
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|---|---|---|
| 1990 - 1992 | 1993 | 1994 - 1999 |
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| 2000 - present | |
The Patriots were a founding member of the AFL in 1960 as the Boston Patriots. They became the New England Patriots in 1970, after the AFL merged with the NFL.
The Patriots wore the hat logo helmet in 1960. There were no numbers on the helmet in the preseason, blue numbers for the first few games, and finally, the red numbers for the remainder of the season.
The team enlarged their helmet logo in 1982, when they switched to white facemasks. They wore this version as a throwback helmet in a Thanksgiving Day game in 2002. In 2000, the team changed the royal blue in their logo to navy blue. Otherwise the helmet is unchanged.
NEW YORK JETS
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|---|---|---|
| 1960 - 1962 | 1963 | 1964 |
| NEW YORK TITANS |
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|---|---|---|
| 1965 - 1971 | 1972 - 1977 | 1978 - 1989 |
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|---|---|---|
| 1990 - 1997 | 1993 special | 1994 special |
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| 1998 - present | ||
The Jets were a founding member of the AFL as the New York Titans in 1960. They became the Jets in 1963, and entered the NFL in 1970 when the two leagues merged. In 1972 the logo orientation was changed to a more horizontal position on the helmet, but the actual logo was no different from the one used previously.
The 1993 special helmet was worn to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Jet's victory in Super Bowl III. I'm not certain, but this may have been the first "throwback" helmet worn in the NFL and may have helped to inspire the throwback helmets and uniforms nearly every NFL team wore in 1994, the NFL's 75th anniversary.
The current helmet, while similar to the late 1960s/early 1970s version, has some noticeable differences. The colors are overall darker and the logo is more rounded, shaped more like an oval than a football.