Born in '93, it's the Pats easily for me. I understand why it's Miami for the older fans. Miami has been average at best, often very bad, since the turn of the century. The Dolphins-Jets games are nowhere near as compelling as the Patriots games. Add in Belichick leaving us for NE, us knocking out Bledsoe and starting Brady's career, Spygate, the playoff matchups, the Rex era, and it's not even close. From my perspective.
For me, its the Pats. By the time I was coming around on being a huge football fan, the Pats were in the middle of winning rings. Dolphins havent been anything special in my time as a fan, and no one really cares about the Bills.
Dolphins don't have to do anything to us ever again. Right to this very damn day teams have inordinately trotted out garbage plays against the Jets. I don't remember if it was Rex's last or next to last season, but it was at a point where the other team was throwing 2-3 trick 4th down plays at them a game.
very tough choice.. never thought i'd see a team cheat more than the Dolphins, a QB i hated more than Marino, and a bandwagon fan base worse than the Fishheads.....................and then came the P*ts. I have no respect for the P*ts and their cheating, wish injury repeatedly on Br*dy (which i've never done with another player), hate their whole arrogant passive aggressive approach, and loathe the fan base with all their denials polluting the internet. From top to bottom, i despise everything about that organization. Had to go P*ts, but as soon as Belichick retires, it will go back to the Fish for me..
It's definitely the Pats. The fins haven't been relevant for a while. But I'll tell you what most of my life the Bills have been the little brother. That has changed. The Bills could arguably be our biggest rival. My disdain for them has grown exponentially. We better beat them at least once this year. A 3 year sweep would be terrible.
For Old Timers its the Dolphins...for newer breeds its the Pats. I've ALAWYS HATED THE FUCKING GIANTS more than either team.
this is my stance. I was born in 1975 so I watched through the 80s and they dolphins were always the rival. I actually can remember watching patriots games with my mom and her rooting for them, because she felt bad for them because they had always sucked and had no fans. we also were always back and forth with them. it hasn't been that way with the patsies the past 15 years. its been them being great and the jets being mediocre. the only real period of jets/patriots rivalry was the stuff that rex created a few years ago. ill always hate the dolphins, at this point I only hate the patsies fake fans.
I think we have a unique perspective on that the older posters don't. Tom Brady has won the division every single season of my Jets fanhood except one. I hate that guy's guts.
Right now it is the Bills who have five straight wins against us and our former head coach chomping at the bit to keep the streak going. If we can end the streak we can start to think about the Patriots.
When I first started watching the Jets, imo their most hated rival was the Oakland Raiders. The Jets and Raiders had some big battles with Namath and Lamonica going at it. Then it was the Dolphins. Then for a short time (although it didn't feel that short at the time), it was the Bills when Levy, Kelly, et al were there. Then it's been the Pats and is still pretty much the Pats.
Born in '71. It was always the Dolphins for me, but then the patriots took it to a new low of cheating.
Being 31 and born in 85 as a kid I remember Buffalo being the class of the AFC with Jim Kelly, Thurman Thomas, Andre Reed, Bruce Smith along with Marv Levy and company. Known for 4 consecutive SB loses. Also as a kid learning more and more about the game always feared Dan Marino's led Dolphins. Continued our rivalry with #28 Curtis Martin. Witnessed an amazing comeback during the Miracle of the Meadowlands. We all disliked Jason Taylor. But ever since those days it's been N.E as our true rival. We've unfortunately been on the losing end of the stick but the rivalry, on both sides has been strong as far as the hatred goes. Parcells would've left us with Belly but we all know how Bill snaked us for the Pats. That's when our rivalry started. The hit on Drew Bledsoe gave birth to a late round Tom Brady. Mangini later on exposed N.E for cheating. Spygate happened. Congress was involved. Tapes were hidden and destroyed. Belichick (hoodie/mumbles) fined by the league. Loss of a 1st round draft pick because of the spygate scandal. The media frenzy once Rex Ryan came to N.Y while instantly stating how he's not here to kiss Belichick's rings. Eliminated N.E on the road in Foxboro back in 2010. Revis joins & wins a Super Bowl with our nemesis etc the list goes on. Even spilt with N.E as recent as last year. Until we can overturn N.E for the East I feel as if they'll continue being our actual measuring stick. I won't sit here and say Brady's going to fall apart over the next 5 years. I've learned. He's proven me wrong one too many times. Difficult to say but he's one of the top 3 if not the greatest all around QB of all-time. As a Franchise we must become the next AFC East machine. We must keep our star talent & continue developing our youth in the form of a professional farm system for hopeful up an comers. We must position ourselves for once N.E goes onto their next chapter of life without Brady/Belichick it's our Jets who then becomes the team taking over the division rather than Miami or Buffalo. We've endured too much. All of Buffalo, Miami & N.E featured H.O.F quarterbacks with the likes of Kelly, Marino and still Brady. Even an old-school/throwback AFC East team in Indy ended up landing Manning #18. Now that Manning has retired, his retirement opens it up for another AFC team within the Conference to step up. Thankfully it's been 16 years and counting regarding Buffalo's playoff drought (hasn't been easy for them replacing Kelly). Fortunately the Dolphins have been M.I.A for a while now (still praying for their next Marino) and I'm sorry, but I'm not so sure it's going to be quite easy for N.E to recover as a Franchise after an era of Brady & Belichick comes to an abrupt hault. Once the dust settles, the Patriots could then fall into the sellers of the NFL, as 'that team' within the Northeast region that football fans (once again) no longer even care enough to discuss or talk about anymore. This period and time is ergent for our front offic and our future. I believe we can compete as contenders as of right now but we must continue developing both Petty and Hackenberg for cheap. Continue to keep our young homegrown defensive studs in Pryor, Wilkerson, Williams and yes, Sheldon Richardson. Continue the development with professional coaching of our youngblood Linebacker core of Mauldin & Jenkins on the outside with Lee mostly on the inside. Use veteran receivers such as Marshall & Decker as mentors needed in order to ease our younger receiving prospects onto the field. Same goes for our younger Cornerbacks under Revis. Begin to put an early round emphasis on our offensive line and backfield with Forte being a 2-3 year bridge cap. Hopefully we take advantage of Brady being out for the first 4 games but we have so many building blocks in place to completely take off within the near future. It's a breath of fresh air. But until N.E goes down in flames they'll continue being every AFC East teams rival. The competition will come down to N.Y, Miami & Buffalo to see who steals the division after (or even during) N.E's reign. With this coaching staff, front office & defensive unit in place I'll take our chances over Miami & Buffalo's.
A true rivalry would be when both sides immediately would name the other team like Pittsburgh/Baltimore. While we have gotten a few sparse punches in, we really have not put up much of a fight to really cement a true Patriots rivalry. I and pretty much all Jets fans absolutely hate them, but a rivalry needs to be 2 sided and seen that way, the Pats would probably consider the teams that are consistently near the top in the AFC as rivals more so than us. The Jets/Dolphins rivalry through the entire 80's was real, but has definitely fizzed out a bit because of both teams ineptitude barring a few seasons here or there for the last 25 years. As of right now its hard to say that the Jets have any true rival right now.
