Division races
The AFL had 8 teams, grouped into two divisions. Each team would play a home-and-away game against the other 7 teams in the league for a total of 14 games, and the best team in the Eastern Division would play against the best in the Western Division in a championship game. If there was a tie in the standings at top of either division, a one-game playoff would be held to determine the division winner.
There was little drama in either of the AFL's division races in 1965. The Bills led the Eastern Division from start to finish, ending five games ahead of the 5–8–1 Jets. In the Western Division, San Diego had three potential wins cancelled out when they were tied by Kansas City (10–10), Boston (13–13) and Buffalo (20–20), but their 9–2–3 finish (.818) was well ahead of Oakland's 8–5–1 record (.615).
| Week | Eastern | | Western | |
|---|
| 1 | Tie (Buf, Hou) | 1–0–0 | Tie (Oak, SD) | 1–0–0 |
| 2 | Tie (Buf, Hou) | 2–0–0 | San Diego | 2–0–0 |
| 3 | Buffalo | 3–0–0 | San Diego | 2–0–1 |
| 4 | Buffalo | 4–0–0 | San Diego | 3–0–1 |
| 5 | Buffalo | 4–1–0 | San Diego | 4–0–1 |
| 6 | Buffalo | 5–1–0 | San Diego | 4–0–2 |
| 7 | Buffalo | 6–1–0 | San Diego | 5–0–2 |
| 8 | Buffalo | 6–2–0 | San Diego | 5–1–2 |
| 9 | Buffalo | 7–2–0 | San Diego | 6–1–2 |
| 10 | Buffalo | 8–2–0 | San Diego | 6–2–2 |
| 11 | Buffalo | 8–2–0 | San Diego | 6–2–2 |
| 12 | Buffalo | 8–2–1 | San Diego | 6–2–3 |
| 13 | Buffalo | 9–2–1 | San Diego | 7–2–3 |
| 14 | Buffalo | 10–2–1 | San Diego | 8–2–3 |
| 15 | Buffalo | 10–3–1 | San Diego | 9–2–3 |
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