In their first season at Fenway Park , switching from Nickerson Field , the Patriots hovered around the .500 mark all season , and were in position to win the Eastern Division title outright with a victory on their final game . The 35 – 3 road loss to the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs allowed the Buffalo Bills catch up and both finished at 7 – 6 – 1 , which required a divisional playoff game , the AFL 's first . Both teams had a bye the following week , postponed from the Sunday after the assassination of President Kennedy ; the tiebreaker playoff was scheduled for Saturday , December 28 , at Buffalo 's War Memorial Stadium . The teams split their two games during the regular season , with the home team winning , and the host Bills were slight favorites
assassination
Assassination of John F. Kennedy
1963 Boston Patriots season