The Gridiron Uniform Database turns 2

It's our birthday.  The Gridiron Uniform Database turns two years old today.

A year ago when we celebrated, Rob, Bill and myself took turns comparing where we were when we started and how far we came up to that point.  We certainly came a long way.

In the year since June 12, 2012, we have come a long way even more.

We added a 1920 - 1932 section to the GUD.  We now have a full uniform database from 1931 to the present.  We hope to add even more uniforms to this era of the NFL as we go along.

We added a complete history of the uniforms worn in the Pro Bowl.  Every Pro Bowl game, every AFL All-Star Game, and even the Shamrock Bowl, the All-America Football Conference's lone All-Star outing.

Of course, the 2012 NFL season came and went, and we added those uniforms as the games were played out, the game by game uniform matchups were added.

We added a lot of stuff to the research tab as well.  Consider:

1) A text description of the history of game officials' uniforms, all the way back to the first season of 1920.

2) A text description of the long departed, but very important College All-Star Game uniforms.

3) Perhaps most important, a history of commemorative helmet decals that have been worn by every team ever.  This is surely the most exhaustive examination of these logos to be found anywhere.

As for now, what is going on currently at the GUD?

Bill - with tremendous help from Larry Schmitt - is updating perhaps the most overlooked aspect of a football uniform, the waistbelt, or more commonly referred to simply, as the belt.  When the GUD first opened shop two years ago, the belts were mostly either just colored in the pant colors of the team, or a very generic black belt.  In recent weeks, the belt colors as well as the belt tunnel/loop patterns have been updated dramatically, in some cases, with impressive results!

Tim is slowly but surely adding additional reference to each season, namely, the weekly uniform matchups for every regular season and post season game played in the NFL and AFL since 1950.  We are roughly halfway through the first step of this project.  The years posted so far are of a "random" variety, but eventually all the holes will be filled and soon you will be able to see every single uniform matchup ever for the last 63 years!

Rob, of course, has the lucky task of taking what Bill and Tim have done and adding all of these goodies to the site itself.

Not to mention the continual and perpetual updates to getting the stripe patterns, numeral fonts, shades of colors, helmet logos even more closer to the way they actually were.  There's no question were have added hundreds of updates to the GUD since our June 12, 2011 launch.  And there will certainly be more as new information is discovered from long forgotten photographic evidence, whether it be on the internet, ancient books and magazines, precious microfilm, yard sales, etc.  If you submit it and we can document it and then confirm it, we will add it to the GUD.

A few areas where we have fallen short, we hope to soon remedy.  We realize we have not blogged nearly as much as we should have since the Ravens took care of the 49ers in Super Bowl XLVII.  This very blog will hopefully get us back in gear.  Our facebook page has been dormant for some time.  We promise to be much more timely and frequent there.  Rob is hoping to make our podcasts, once experimental, more of an ongoing educational presence.  While the blog, facebook and podcasts are important and bonuses to the GUD, the heart of our existence is the website, The Gridiron Uniform Database.  Stay with us in year three of GUD as we promise to add more good things along the way, as well as - of course - the 2013 season, with the Dolphins, Vikings and Jaguars all making major changes to their look(s).

To close, we can't thank you enough for your kind words, encouragement and most of all your generous help, both in information and financially.  A generous financial gift from a very kind benefactor has helped the GUD beyond words.  Rob, Bill and Tim are three grateful guys to all of you for your enduring support.  We hope to make year three of the GUD every bit as good as the first two years.

As always, your comments are always welcome. You can always contact us personally.

Stay tuned.

Belts 'R' Us

A short while ago, Rob updated the site with a flood of revisions largely centered on, of all things, belts. (and still working on them, unfortunately -RH)  The situation began when I happened to be perusing the collection of “Mud Games” photos collected in a thread of our Forum. I spotted an image from the 1983 AFC Championship Game between the Jets and Dolphins. I noticed something that I had known to exist but I had actually not given it a single thought. I did some quick searching and came across a photo showing Jets’ quarterback Richard Todd attempting to elude the rush of Dolphins’ lineman Doug Betters. Clearly evident was my target – pants that showed the belt all the way around the player’s waistline. For lack of a pre-existing name for this bit of fashion, I began referring to them as ‘peek-a-boo’ belts (PABs, for short).

1983 AFC Championship Game - Courtesy of getty.com

I remembered these belts vividly on several teams and was immediately troubled by the fact that we had completely neglected them up till this point. That was going to be something that would have to change.

A thread was organized on the Forum to answer the who’s and when’s of this situation. Our own Larry Schmitt was invaluable aiding me in the research. What began as a search for the Jets quickly began to include the Colts, Chargers, Patriots, Bengals, Falcons, Bills, and Dolphins.  A summary of that research can be found in the thread “Unusual pants (did that get your attention?).”

For me, an interesting thing is how this research led to other belt-related/unrelated discoveries that also needed attending to.  While efforting to discover the origin of the Jets’ PABs, we discovered the first year of their existence was the Super Bowl III season. However, just one year earlier, they were wearing regular white belts that we had incorrectly been displaying as black. Now we had to find how far back these white belts went. Sure enough, they went all the way back to the first year of the Jets after they ceased being known as the Titans. But that was not all.

Left - 1967 with normal white belts; Right - 1963 1st year Jets with white belts

Larry’s keen eye noticed some discrepancies among the pants stripes. We had been displaying a single pants stripe appearance over this entire generation. Larry noted that not only did the thickness of the green stripes have different variations but he also found that the separation between the stripes also included changes in the size of separation over the same period of time.

After about ten days of research, I began making the required changes to our site’s yearly images.

But the story doesn’t end there.  A few weeks ago, Larry sent me a harmless little email saying that he had innocently found another belt situation that needed attending to. After viewing his proof, I agreed, and made the changes. But as with the PABs, while researching one thing, you often stumble across more.  And he did.

After viewing photos of Earl Campbell and performing a little more digging, Larry had found that the Oilers matched their belts to their pants in all situations after doing away with the grey/silver pants beginning in 1972. In fact, when Houston moved to Tennessee to become the Titans, they continued this trend, another item we had missed as GUD had been displaying navy belts for all of the Titans’ combinations since 1999.

Earl Campbell in 1978 (left) and 1980 (right)

Similar discoveries soon followed for New Orleans, Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay, Seattle, and Washington. These (and other) corrections will be appearing shortly in the Update section.

While not extremely difficult corrections to make, they were disturbingly time consuming. And while I was sitting at my PC making all of these changes, my mind began to wonder ‘how did this happen?’ I mean the PABs were one thing. We had completely neglected this style that was fairly prominent for some teams for a large chunk of their existence – in some cases twenty to thirty years or even more.

But the color of the belts? How did we miss these? A light bulb went on and I had my answer. If you have read “About The Template” for GUD, you know the history of how I came to use this particular model for the construction of our template. When I first found it, most of the drawing had substantial errors. Some colors weren’t quite right, several helmet logos were too big, collars contained the NFL shield instead of the NFL Equipment logo, certain teams that would wear the 50^th Anniversary patch had the wrong color patch, and the sleeves were too long for the era being described.

Original images of our soon-to-be template

But I never thought to question the belts. Whatever was already in place there, that's what we blindly kept. It was the one part of the uniform we never really thought about for the modern age and that's my fault. So I guess I can only get upset with myself for missing these to begin with years ago. I took it upon myself to go back and check through the rest of the teams we hadn't already caught over the last few months as being erroneous. In a single afternoon, I uncovered additional errors for Arizona, Baltimore, Buffalo, Carolina, Cleveland, and Houston and put all of my 'suffering' into one day making the corrections. After all, our motto around here is "Just get it right."

It takes a sense of humor to do this. When we finally finished (hopeful and with fingers crossed!) with this most recent batch of belt amendments, Larry asked if since we were done with belts if we were next going to move on to chinstraps. It was humorous and I knew he wasn’t being the least bit serious (I hope!). The strange part was that moments  prior to getting that question posed to me via email, I had just been thinking of sending a similarly joking email to Larry asking if he would mind doing some research on the colors of wristbands and elbow pads!

I guess its true – great sick minds think alike.

Despite all that, I want to thank Larry not just for the help in locating these oversights but also for everything else he’s pitched in and assisted with over the last two years. After all, this work takes a special type of person.

“Honey, what‘re you doing on the computer?” “ Oh, just researching football belts.”
    - actual excerpt from a conversation in the Schaefer household

Bill Schaefer

"It's Gotta Be The Shoes!!!"

Last Spring, Uni Watch's Paul Lukas attended the unveiling of Nike's new uniforms for the 2012 NFL season and served as the informational conduit to the fans explaining what he saw as new differences as well as continued similarities to the past.  One of the features that received a significant amount of publicity was the new Nike Vapor cleats - each adorned in 2 or 3 team colors splashed generously about the footwear. Not only are the Vapors colorful but the colors are distributed in an unorthodox fashion. Insteps are one color while the the outside of the foot is another.

Last summer while creating the initial fabrications for each team's complete uniform, I put together a cleat template that would represent each team's version of the above designs.  However, we withheld adding these to the 2012 images because we were unsure how this new design would fly in the face of the League's strict "Base-White-or-Base-Black" cleat mandate. Just the previous year in 2011, Chicago's Earl Bennett received fines for continuing to wear plain orange cleats - an official Bear color - and was subsequently threatened by the League with penalties prior to kickoff and possible ejections from games if he continued to wear them.

NY Giants version of Nike Vapors

We decided that the GUD would continue displaying team footwear as either black cleats or white until we saw how the season, itself, would pan out.  When "Opening Night" arrived, I broke out the microscope the next day to dissect the footwear. What I found was a graphic engineer's worst nightmare.

Our "Standard Operating Procedure" around here as always been "Go with the majority" along with our mantra of "Just get it right." This was rigorously applied to the 1970's when teams were slowly converting from black cleats to white. Once the majority of the players photographed were seen to have crossed over that line, that would become year in which we formally made the change on the yearly team images. The problem we were about to experience was ten times worse. Not only were the majority of players running completely contrary to the 'Base-White-or-Base-Black" edict, but no one specific brand (even Nike) or pattern of design was a clear majority. It was almost as if the players said "If they're going to let us wear team-colored cleats, I'm picking my own brand/style." Below are the two collages I made up  from "Opening Night" for my GUD colleagues to demonstrate the dilemma we faced.

Various  NY Giant cleats worn in Week 1

Various Dallas cleats worn in Week 1

If the teams simply could have had the majority wearing one particular design, we'd have been fine. However, the sheer number of footwear variations was trauma inducing.  We knew we could never depict every style of footwear for every uniform combination worn. That would be ludicrous to display. We decided to ride out the season with simple white or black and let the rest of the new uniform parts carry the weight of the season.

Now in the lull between seasons, with nothing to add as far as new designs for 2013 as yet, I turned introspective and again pondered this issue and its implications. The Vapor designs I molded for 2012, while authentic looking, do not represent a majority of the looks each team put forth. However the conundrum created by the majority of players wearing 'colored' cleats, as opposed to black/white, need to be addressed. If this trend continued, and there has been no reason to expect that it wouldn't, how many seasons would have to go by before we, at GUD, said "You know, all of the players are wearing colored cleats now. We really should have made that change back in 2012 so we wouldn't have to go back and change x number of seasons for consistency's sake."

I began perusing the galleries of photos from the past season on NFL.com. and charted, to the best of my abilities, what the most common color schemes and placement of those colors were. Rather than going with a particular style/brand of design, I decided that the colors should be the focus since we were channeling away from white and black.

Each team would receive one version of two or three colors mixed in a consistent fashion. The only exceptions for receiving an additional pair would be those teams utilizing an alternate or throwback uniform combination in which the color schemes were greatly changed as with Tampa Bay (creamcicle) and Washington (burgundy throwbacks) this past year. Some teams, like New England (red) and San Diego (powder blue), used alternate uniforms of a different color from their standards but yet did not pass this on to their footwear. The majority of players on those teams used the same cleats as during the other 14 or 15 weeks of the season.

NY Giants version of the colored shoe template for 2012

While these schemes currently represent those seen by a majority of each team's players, it's my hope that the pattern will not change dramatically for the coming seasons. The idea is to show the colors being used, not any one specific pattern, since no one specific pattern is in use, even the mighty Vapor.

I believe that this alteration to last season's images helps to more accurately depict the product we see on the field. After all, the NFL is not simply Black-and-White. It has shades of grey...and navy...and midnight green...and battle red...and...

Bill Schaefer

Cris Carter - HOF Profile

If there is one word to describe the 16-year career of wide receiver Cris Carter, it would be consistency.

In an era where passing and receiving records fall regularly, it is sometimes easy to fail to appreciate the careers of those who came before. Consider these facts when pondering the accumulated totals from Carter's career, where he ranked second all time in career receptions with 1,101 and touchdowns with 130 at the time of his retirement following the 2002 season.

• His 130 touchdowns came from the arm of 13 different passers.
• Of his 12 seasons in Minnesota, the Vikings qualified for the post season eight times with seven different starting quarterbacks - making it twice with Warren Moon in 1994 and 1996.
• He was the first player to have two seasons with more than 120 receptions (with only Wes Welker equaling that to date.) 
• Carter's 10 post season games with Minnesota saw him amass 60 catches for 837 yards and eight touchdowns.  
• The Vikings won-loss record was 76-29 when Carter scored at least one touchdown.
• Carter had 29 multiple-touchdown games, including three with 3 scores.
• He holds 19 Vikings individual receiving records.

Of course, none of this seemed possible when Carter was released by  Philadelphia just prior to the start of the 1990 regular season. His three years with the Eagles were tumultuous. Substance abuse issues and off field problems forced management to waive his contract as he had become an unreliable performer and distraction to the team. 

Carter played mostly a back up role in his first season with Minnesota and focused on cleaning up his personal life. After the 1991 season a regime change brought in a new head coach, and a newly focused Carter began to emerge a primary weapon for Minnesota's offense.

The Viking's quarterback situation was unsettled, neither Rich Gannon nor Sean Salisbury emerged as the full-time starter. Despite the uncertainty, and three games missed with a broken collar bone, Carter lead the team in receptions, yards and touchdowns. Missed starts were rare for Carter, who played a full 16-game schedule in 13 of his 16 seasons, totaling 234 games played. The Vikings began a run under coach Dennis Green where they would qualify for the post season in eight of nine seasons.

A change in quarterback in 1993 from Gannon to Jim McMahon brought Carter's first of eight consecutive 1,000 yard seasons, Pro Bowl invitations, and another playoff berth. But the greatest success was just around the corner.

Moon arrived via a trade with the Houston Oilers, settling Minnesota's revolving door at quarterback (for two-and-a-half seasons anyway.)  With stability in the offense, Carter was able to establish a rapport with the Vikings passer and strung together three great seasons and for the first time saw his name appear in the NFL record books.

Carter established the NFL record for receptions in a season with 122 in 1994. His 1,256 yards and seven touchdowns as Minnesota's primary receiving threat saw him named First Team All Pro as the Vikings won the NFC Central, but for the third straight year went one-and-done in the playoffs.

1995 was an even better year for Carter personally, even though Minnesota as a team slumped to 8-8, He matched the remarkable 122 catch effort from the year before, but augmented it with 1.371 yards and an NFL leading 17 touchdowns - including four 12-reception games. Amazingly, he was only named Second Team All Pro, as he tied for second in the league for catches that year. Jerry Rice also had 122 receptions while Herman Moore set the new mark at 123.

A mid-season collar bone injury to Moon brought another quarterback change for the Vikings, but Carter continued his reliable production. With Brad Johnson taking over Carter finished the season with 96 catches, 1,163 yards and 10 touchdowns. His three year total for 1994-1996 still ranks among the most prolific of all time: 48 games played, 340 catches, 3,790 yards and 34 touchdowns.

Carter lead the NFL with touchdown catches again in 1997 with 13, despite Johnson being unable to complete the season with an injury. Randall Cunningham took over in December and the Vikings won their first playoff game under Green in the Wild Card round.

In 1998 a renewed Cunningham commanded the NFL's highest scoring offense in history, and Carter was a major part of their success. Minnesota's 556 points scored (averaging 34.8 points per game) broke the record of 541 held by the 1983 Washington Redskins. Although rookie receiver Randy Moss broke onto the scene and stole most of the headlines, Carter had another 1,000 yard season on 78 catches and 12 touchdowns. The 15-1 Vikings advanced to the NFC Championship Game, but lost in overtime to the Atlanta Falcons.

The following season may have been Carter's best season of all. His 90 catches for 1,241 yards and league leading 13 touchdowns (his fifth consecutive season with at least 10 scoring receptions) were punctuated by a 13.8 yard-per-catch average, his highest of any season where he caught more than 40 passes. He was rewarded with a spot on the First Team All Pro list. Most significantly, Carter was awarded the NFL's Walter Payton Man of the Year Award, which is an honor give in recognition of a player's volunteer and charitable efforts, showing how far he had come since his early days in Philadelphia.

Following two more productive years in Minnesota, which included becoming just the second player to reach the 1,000 catch plateau in 2000, Carter temporarily retired. He was lured out midway through in the 2002 season by the injury depleted Miami Dolphins who were engaged in a three team race for first place in the AFC East. Carter retired for good after the season.

The six-time finalist joins 11 other Vikings in Canton, continuing a run of recognition for Minnesota as Carter is the fifth member of the franchise to receive enshrinement in the past six classes (Chris Doleman 2012, John Randle, 2010, Randall McDaniel 2009, Gary Zimmerman 2008.) Carter played in 188 games (with 177 starts) and had 40 of his 42 career 100-yard games with the Vikings, and is one of only six players to have their number retired by the club. He is also a member of the NFL's All Decade Team for the 1990's.

Cris Carter's Career Statistics at Pro-Football-Reference.com

Cris Carter's career uniforms:

A Head-to-Head History: Super Bowl Edition

A Head-to-Head History: Super Bowl Edition
by Larry Schmitt

San Francisco and Baltimore both have an illustrious Super Bowl history. The 49ers are 5-0 all time in the biggest of games, with their most recent victory in 1995, while the Ravens are 1-0, having won their lone Championship in 2001 in Super Bowl XXXV.   Super Bowl XLVII will be the tenth Super Bowl in New Orleans, and the seventh in the Super Dome.

This will be the fifth time that the Ravens and Forty-Niners have played each other, and the Ravens hold a 3-1 advantage.  Ravens' head coach and older brother John Harbaugh is 1-0 versus younger brother Jim, the 49ers' coach.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The first meeting between this years Super Bowl participants took place in Week 12 of the Ravens inaugural  1996 season when the injury plagued and 3-7, the Ravens traveled to Candlestick Park to take on the 7-3 49ers.

Vinny Testaverde connected with Michael Jackson on a 65-yard touchdown strike in the first quarter to give Baltimore an early lead. Unfortunately San Francisco gradually assumed control of the game and Testeverde left with rib injuries following a 2nd quarter sack.

Back up Eric Zeier lead two drives that ended with Matt Stover field goals, and also tossed a touchdown to James Jones, a defensive lineman filling in at fullback. The day belonged to the 49ers however. Elvis Grbac completed 26 passes to six different receivers for 268 yards, including a touchdown to Hall of Famer Jerry Race, and Grbac also ran for another score. After the Zeier to Jones score put Baltimore ahead 20-17, San Francisco scored 21 unanswered points. A spectacular Chris Doleman end zone strip-sack fumble recovery score was sandwiched in between two one-yard scoring runs for the 38-20 final.

The Ravens finished their inaugural season in Baltimore 4-12 for fifth place in the AFC Central Division. The 49'ers won the NFC West Division at 12-4. After beating Philadelphia in the Wild Card round they would fall to eventual Super Bowl Champion Green Bay in the Divisional Round.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Ravens franchise enjoyed their most lopsided victory in their existence (up to that point) at the expense of San Francisco in Week 13 of the 2003 season.

Forty-Niners quarterback Jeff Garcia had a miserable day as he completed less than half of his pass attempts and was intercepted four times. The Ravens defense actually outscored the San Francisco offense: Ray Lewis returned one of the interceptions for a touchdown just before halftime for a 24-6 lead, while the 49ers managed just two Todd Peterson field goals and 10 total first downs.

The Ravens were able to turn what was actually a very close 7-6 game into a blowout in the final three minutes of the first half with big plays from all three units of their team.

The first came on the kickoff following a San Francisco field goal at 3:25, when Lamont Brightful set up his offense with a 75-yard return to the 49ers 19 yard-line. Baltimore could not capitalize on the great field position though, and after three plays settled for afield goal.

Baltimore forced a three and out after the kickoff, and a personal foul on the punt return set the Ravens up at the San Francisco 49 yard-line at 1:18. The two-play drive was capped by an Anthony Wright to Marcus Robinson touchdown from 38 yards out.

Now leading 24-6, the Ravens sealed the ultimate outcome with the Lewis interception 29-yard run-back with 0:41 on the clock on the second play of San Francisco's next possession. 

The Ravens won the AFC North Division with a 10-6 record but lost to Tennessee in the Wild Card Playoffs. San Francisco finished in third place of the NFC West at 7-9.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Both defenses were strong in Week 5 of the 2007 season when the Ravens met the quarterback who guided them to a victory in Super Bowl XXXV.  The Ravens nearly doubled the 49ers total yardage output, 315-163, but could not find the end zone. However, three Matt Stover field goals were enough for a 9-7 victory.

San Francisco provided the games only real fireworks with a two play sequence in the third quarter as they sought to chisel into Baltimore's 9-0 lead. Facing a third-and-six on their own 35 yard-line, Trent Dilfer, the former Raven who was starting for the injured Alex Smith, lofted a deep pass down the left sideline to Bryan Gilmore, good for 42 yards. On the very next play found Arnaz Battle in the middle of the end zone for a 23-yard touchdown.

That concluded the scoring for the day. Following two exchanges of punts, Steve McNair helped seal San Francisco's fate with a 17-play drive that consumed over eight minutes of the 4th quarter game clock. On that drive, Baltimore was able to convert two third downs, and one fourth down on a running into the kicker penalty on a punt play.

Dilfer followed with a 46-yard drive that stalled on Baltimore's 34 yard-line, and Joe Nedney's 52-yard field goal attempt for the lead sailed wide left at 2:37 and the Ravens ran out the clock for the road victory.

Both teams finished with disappointing records and out of the post season. Baltimore was 4-12 in last place in the AFC North while San Francisco was 5-11 in third place in the NFC West.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The NFL's first ever head-to-head meeting of head coaching brothers occurred when two 8-2 teams battled on a cold Thursday night in Baltimore during Week 12 of the 2011 season.

For the third straight meeting between the clubs, Baltimore's defense dominated, this time establishing a team record with nine sacks as they harassed 49'er quarterback Alex Smith relentlessly, and they did it without Lewis who was on the sidelines with a foot injury. Terrell Suggs emerged as the Ravens dominant force, registering three of the sacks.

Baltimore lead 6-3 at the half. Remarkably, the third quarter featured just two possessions. San Francisco downed the kickoff to start the quarter on their own 20-yard line. The 13-play drive consumed 7:25 and featured Smith completed three of three passes, but he was also sacked twice and forced to scramble for eight yards once. The key play occurred on third-and-seventeen when Smith completed an 18-yard pass to Michael Crabtree to move the chains. The drive stalled at the Baltimore 34 and Akers kicked a 52-yard field goal to knot the score at 6-6.

The Raven followed suit with their own lengthy drive. The first 15 plays terminated the balance of the third quarter, and included three third-down conversions. Eleven of the calls were passes and Flacco completed seven of them, and Baltimore moved from their own 24 to the San Francisco eight yard line. The first play of the fourth quarter was also a pass, a touchdown catch by Denis Pitta to give the Ravens a 13-6 advantage.

The Baltimore defense cranked up the pressure, pressuring and sacking Smith several times. When the Ravens had the ball they leaned heavily on backs Ray Rice and Ricky Williams to muscle the ball to move the chains and eat more time from the clock. A Cundiff field goal at 3:14 sealed the 49'ers fate and a desperation drive by Smith ended on downs.

Both teams won their respective divisions and had strong post season showings, but fell short in their Conference Championships. The 12-4 Ravens defeated Houston at home before losing a heart breaker in New England where they missed a near winning touchdown reception, then a tying field goal in the final seconds. The 13-3 49'ers fate was just as excruciating. After capturing a thrilling come from behind upset victory at home over New Orleans, they lost a slug-fest in a rain soaked Candlestick Park in overtime to the eventual Super Bowl champion New York Giants.

This year both teams advanced to the ultimate game, where neither franchise has ever lost before. Which brother will take home the Lombardi Trophy and family bragging rights

ADDENDUM

While the NFL officially recognizes the Baltimore Ravens as a unique franchise, their lineage does trace back to the original Cleveland Browns. Coincidentally, Browns/Ravens late owner Art Modell is a finalist for Hall of Fame enshrinement, which will be announced Super Bowl Eve Saturday afternoon.

The 49ers were a charter member of the All America Football conference with the Cleveland Browns, as well as the first Baltimore Colts franchise {which went defunct in 1951 and is not connected to the one residing in Indianapolis today.} San Francisco was the Browns toughest adversary in the league they thoroughly dominated. Cleveland sported a 52-4-3 record over the four season of the AFC, with two of those losses coming to the 49ers. They met the leagues final game to decide the championship.

The 9-1-2 Browns hosted the 9-3 49ers as their dynasty looked to for an unprecedented four-peat. San Francisco had confidence on their side. In October they dealt the powerful Browns the worst loss in their brief existence, 56-28 in San Francisco, which was also their first loss since 1947. Three weeks later in Cleveland the Browns pulled out a close 30-28 win.

In the title game, the defenses were in charge early. Cleveland scored early on a two-yard plunge by Edgar Jones. San Francisco had a chance to score in the second quarter, but Frankie Albert was sacked on third down and Joe Vetrano's field goal attempt missed and the first half ended 7-0.

Browns fullback Marion Motley provided the games most exciting play, a 63-yard touchdown jaunt that opened a 14-0 lead for the defending champs in the third quarter. A 73-yard kickoff return kept San Francisco in business. Frankie Albert threw a 23-yard touchdown to Paul Salata to keep the margin at seven.

San Francisco's defense performed admirably, keeping the normally dangerous Otto Graham-led passing attack in check, but the Browns running game wore them down. Graham, Motley and Edgar Jones each topped 60 yards rushing, and Jones' fourth quarter touchdown at 6:00 iced the game.  Cleveland was the only champion crowned during the AAFC's four season of play.

Both teams would leave a significant imprint on the landscape of the NFL after merging in 1950. San Francisco would have to wait though, as their time to reign supreme would not be until the early 1980's. Their inaugural season in the NFL National Conference was a difficult one, where they struggled to a 3-9 sixth place finish. The Browns proved to all doubters that they could indeed run with the big dogs. They rolled to a 10-2 first place tie atop the American Conference with the New York Giants. They bested the Giants 8-3 in a divisional playoff game before upsetting Los Angeles 30-28 in a thrilling NFL Championship.

11/30/58 BAL 35 vs SF 27
The 4-5 49ers traveled to 8-1 Baltimore in Week 10 of the 1958 season, and took part in a significant game that helped shape one of the NFL's legendary teams.

San Francisco exploded for 20 second quarter points as they ran out to a 27-7 halftime advantage. Deviating from their typical script, they did it with three rushing touchdown, two by the normally slow-footed Y.A. Tittle and an interception return.

Johnny Unitas lead long scoring drives as the Colts defense began to clamp down. Fullback Alan Ameche's one yard dive cut the lead to 27-20 early in the fourth quarter. After getting the ball back, halfback Lenny Moore electrified the Memorial Stadium crowd with a weaving 73-yard run where he evaded several tacklers and put the Colts on top 28-27. The inspired Baltimore defense responded by getting the ball back to Unitas where he put the finishing touches on the dominating second half with a seven-yard touchdown pass to Raymond Berry.

Here is what Hall of Famer Moore had to say about this game years later:

"I thought the best game we ever played as a team in my years with the Colts was the one when we were down 27-7 to the 49ers in '58 and came back to win. We trailed, 27-7 at halftime. We were so twisted, we didn't know what to do. The 49ers had three Hall of Famers in the backfield {Tittle, Joe Perry and Hugh McElhenney}. How do you stop those guys? But Weeb Ewbank said, 'Fellas, we're not out of this. Defense? Shut them down. Offense? Go to work.' When we went back out there, everyone was tuned in, and Johnny went to war."

San Francisco finished in fourth place of the NFL Western Conference with a 6-6 record. Baltimore finished first at 9-3 and famously went on to win their first NFL Title against the New York Giants in "The Greatest Game Ever Played."

The Colts would go on to post a 1-1 record in the Super Bowl while calling Baltimore home. This Sunday the cities of San Francisco and Baltimore will have another opportunity to carve a new niche in the NFL's championship legacy.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

While these two franchises have a limited history of playing each other, there is also the matter of their history with the city of New Orleans to contend with.  The 49ers have a vast advantage over the Ravens in the amount of history they have of playing in the crescent city.  San Francisco and the New Orleans Saints were in the NFC West together from 1970 to 2001, therefore they played in New Orleans every year during that stretch except the strike-shortened season of 1982.  They had, however, only played there once in the last five years before meeting the Saints earlier this season in one of Colin Kapernick's first starts, a 31-21 victory over the Saints.

The more relevant New Orleans experience for the Niners, however, may be their previous Super Bowl experience there.  San Francisco won Super Bowl XXIV 55-21 over the Denver Broncos in the Superdome  and tied the Pittsburgh Steelers with 4 Lombardi trophies.  It was their second consecutive title in George Seifert's first as he took over for Bill Walsh, who retired after the Niners' Super Bowl win the previous season.   The Steelers have since won two more, and with the 49ers winning their fifth in 1995, they can again tie Pittsburgh atop the all-time Super Bowl wins list at six here in XLVII 

The Ravens, although they've played the Saints five times since beginning play in 1996, have only played once in New Orleans, with the other four meetings coming in Baltimore.  Their one meeting in the Superdome was a 35-22 Baltimore win 2006.

 
Drew Brees threw three interceptions, including two that were returned for touchdowns as the 4-2 Ravens built up a 35 to 7 third quarter lead over the 5-1 NFC South leading Saints.  The Ravens, that year, would go 13-3 and win the AFC North, but would lose to Indianapolis 15-6 in the divisional playoffs.  Prior to that game, only one other Baltimore team had ever played in New Orleans, and that of course was the Colts.

Only once before they moved to Indianapolis did they ever play in New Orleans, and that was in 1969, during the Saints third season.  This was before the Superdome opened, of course, and the Saints played their home games then at Tulane Stadium.

Johnny Unitas threw three touchdown passes and the Colts beat the Saints 30-10.  The Colts would go 8-5-1 and would miss the playoffs in the last season before the AFL-NFL merger, however they would go on to win Super Bowl V a year later.

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So there you have it -- an in-depth look at the history of the previous meetings involving the teams (and cities) involved in Super Bowl XLVII.  Good luck to both teams in the big game Sunday!

The Pro Bowl and a Little History

The Pro Bowl and a Little History
by Tim Brulia

Today is a breather from all of the Super Bowl hype-nonsense that will build up into a hyperventilating frenzy that will culminate next Sunday evening when an NFL legend hands the Vince Lombardi Trophy to NFL Commissioner Roger Goddell to then hand to the owner of the winning team so that CBS' Jim Nantz can interview him/her.

Today is Pro Bowl day.

The Pro Bowl, never really a huge deal, lately has been abused and criticized by the commissioner, players, the media, fans and probably your own mother.  The NFL - at least - in the USA, is perhaps a near perfect sport, lauded and loved by almost everyone.  Its black sheep, if there is one, is this game.  The Pro Bowl is in essence, the NFL's All-Star Game.  But, there must be enough interest to have it played yet again today (according to ACNielsen, it had more viewers of its all-star game in 2012 than any other sport's "ASG.").

Our job here at the Gridiron Uniform Database (GUD) is not give our two cents on the pros (no pun intended) and cons of the Pro Bowl, but simply to provide and share the uniform history of this game.  And that we shall do.

Back in early September, the GUD launched a visual detailed history of the Pro Bowl, the entire history of the Pro Bowl, including the pre-merger Pro Bowl, the AFL All-Star Game, not to mention the lone AAFC All-Star Game, known as the Shamrock Bowl.  We accompanied that launch with a blog article detailing the evolution of the Pro Bowl's uniforms.

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In a nutshell, the Pro Bowl's uniform history is that the PB started out with very simple and plain designs, with one team (normally the West All-Stars) clad in white and the other side (usually the East All-Stars) rocking red jerseys.  Effective with the merger season of 1970, the uniforms received an overhaul, but the teams retained a basic look that was more or less unchanged through the 1993 season, with the AFC clad in white jerseys and red pants, while the NFC sported blue jerseys and white pants.  Then from the 1994 season game right up through last season's clash, a bodacious explosion of out of the box designs of patterns, fonts, sublimation logos, and patches, patches, patches wreaked havoc on the PB uni template, sending traditionalist-types hyperventilating and running for cover.

If the "sneak peeks" of today's game's uniforms are indeed accurate, we will likely see the most conservative design features for the Pro Bowl in nearly 20 years.  Only two patches will adorn the jersey, one for the player's team logo and one for the Pro Bowl logo.  The word - in smallish lettering - "AMERICAN" or "NATIONAL" above the front jersey number, and a rather plain name on back (NOB) above the player's number on the back.  The numbers will be in a straight block font  The jerseys will be plain, with no sublimation, "bibs", or other creative "out there" patterns.  The pants will be the only place where the uni pays some homage to the 1994-2012 era.  There will be a single thickish stripe on the side that will wraparound the leg edge to the rear, creating what some might call a "toilet seat" effect.  The socks will be either a solid red (AFC) or a solid blue (NFC)..  Uniform purists should rejoice at this year's look.    

Whatever the case, we at GUD hope that the game will be well played and with a bit - just a bit, mind you - of intensity.  We encourage you to review the Pro Bowl yearly history of uniforms as so ably portrayed by the GUD graphic engineer, Bill Schaefer.

Then tomorrow, get yourself ready for the Super Bowl.  You'll have no choice!!

Conference Championship Uniform Rankings

So these are the games that get you to the Super Bowl.

49ers-Falcons: SF in white/gold, ATL in red/white. A lot of red to be sure, so the key here is the trim colors. Of course, there's white. Then add in the Niners gold helmets and pants, with a pinch of black surrounding the SF oval on the helmet, the red-white-red stripes on the helmet and pants, and the red socks. Also sprinkle in the black helmet on the Falcons with a touch of silver on the helmet logo. Nice juicy black outlines on the numerals, the helmet logo (though tiny) on the sleeves. White pants with the kinky striping on the sides. You have a rather nice uni matchup. Not extremely colorful, but enough variation in trim colors that the reds doesn't dull the senses.

Ravens-Patriots: BAL in white/black, NE in dark blue/silver. We have seen the Patriots in so many of these playoff encounters at home in recent years that the blue/silver look is actually expected. The Ravens, seeming to cash in on their winning ways in black pants in this season's playoffs that they rode the black pants to the AFC title game. It was the correct option. This matchup didn't spark me as much as the NFC title tilt, but it's not a disaster, either. Again, the black pants may be a little black overload on the Ravens part, but there is also purple numbers, gold and flakes of red and yellow (based on the Maryland coat of arms shield on the sleeves) to add a touch of zing to their togs. The Patriots, in standard dark blue with silver on the helmet and pants with bits of red trim, is the hallmark of playoff unis for roughly the past decade. A good matchup, but not the best.

I rank these as:
2) BAL-NE
1) SF-ATL

Before we get to Super Bowl XLVII on February 3rd at New Orleans, we do have (what very well could be the last) Pro Bowl this Sunday in Honolulu. This year, the Pro Bowl unis have been kept under wraps, and now, even only 3 days before the AFC-NFC tilit itself, we don't have a clear idea of what they will really look like.

Still. we will eventually know, and post them on the GUD, and I will review them, just like the previous 20 weeks. We don't want to miss the possible swan song of the Pro Bowl, y'know??

Anyway, check in with us for our take on the PB unis right here.

Championship Sunday Preview

Today we bring you a retro-style preview of today's NFC and AFC Championship Games.  For that, we send you to New York and CBS Control and Brent Musburger.  (cue theme music)

"You are looking live at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia, where in about 35 minutes the Atlanta Falcons will be hosting the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship Game for the right to go to New Orleans and play in Super Bowl XLVII.  Hello everybody, I'm Brent Musburger, and I want to thank the Gridiron Uniform Database for the wonderful introduction.  I'm joined as usual by Irv Cross, Phyllis George and Jimmy the Greek Snyder, who will have his picks later on.  Jack Whitaker will also join us later from chilly Foxboro where he's trying to stay warm getting ready for Baltimore and New England battling tonight in the AFC Championship."

Now some highlights, the Atlanta Falcons defeated the Seattle Seahawks last week in a thrilling game, the Seahawks came from 20 points down and scored in the final minute to take the lead on this one yard run, but in the final seconds Matty Ice, Matt Ryan got the Falcons into field goal range and Matt Bryant kicked the game winner and a 30 to 28 victory for the Falcons.  Irv, tell us about this Falcon team, is this finally going to be their year?"

Irv: "Well, you know, Brent, the big knock on the Falcons was they couldn't win a playoff game.  Three years ago they lost to Arizona, two years ago they were also the number one seed that year and were blown out by Aaron Rogers and the Packers.  And last year they lost 24 to 2 to the Giants.  So now that they got that playoff monkey off their back, maybe now it's their time, they have a fantastic quarterback in Matt Ryan, and a couple great wide receivers in Julio Jones and Roddy White, I think this could be their year, but they will face a tough San Francisco team."

Brent: "And speaking of that San Francisco team, last Saturday night they defeated the Green Bay Packers behind the amazing Colin Kaepernick... take a look at this 70 yard run, he goes around right end and just like that he is gone!  The 49ers defeated the Green Bay Packers 45 to 31.  Jimmy, how about this Forty-Niner team?"

Jimmy the Greek: "I'll tell you what, Brent, I look at this 49ers team, they were a fumbled punt return away from going to the Super Bowl last year, they got a great quarterback in Alex Smith, they were, what were they, 6-2? And Smith gets hurt and Jim Harbaugh puts in this kid from Nevada, and let me tell you something, I saw this kid Kaperakick... Kapernack, whats' his name?

Brent: "Kapernick, Colin Kapernick."

Greek: "Yeah, Kapernick, I saw this kid he had the 70 yard run the other night, he had a run just like that in the preseason against Minnesota, he went 80 yards.  And you know everyone said that Harbaugh was crazy for taking Alex Smith out after he got hurt and now everyone's like, Alex Smith who?  I ain't never seen nothing like this kid, he's got an arm like Marino and he can run like Deion Sanders.  Everybody is talking about the rookies, the Griffith kid in Washington, and Andrew Luck and the kid in Seattle, but this Caperknack guy, I tell you what he's the real deal."

Musburger:  "He had an NFL record 181 yards rushing against the Packers, that's a league record for yards rushing by a QB in a game, not just in the preseason, in any game, folks.  Now let's bring in our reporter Jack Whitaker who is in Foxboro via Satellite to preview tonight's AFC tilt.  Jack are you there?

Whitaker:  Thanks, Brent, I'm here at Gillette Stadium where the Patriots will attempt to go to their 2nd consecutive Super Bowl, and their sixth in twelve years tonight against the Ravens.  Last year it was these same two teams, and the Ravens appeared to have a game winning touchdown in the final minute, but it slipped through the receiver's hands and then kicker Billy Cundiff missed a chance to send it to overtime, and the Patriots went to Super Bowl XLVI.  Tom Brady led the Patriots over Houston last week in the divisional round, and Baltimore upset Peyton Manning and the Broncos at Mile High in double overtime.  Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis announced he would retire at the season's end, and his team has been playing at an emotional high the last two weeks in wins over the Colts and Broncos.  Will the Ravens upset the Patriots and keep the Ray Lewis retirement party on ice for another two weeks?  We'll find out later tonight when these two teams meet in the AFC Championship.

Musburger:  "Thanks, Jack, and that game will be seen over on the other network tonight after our game from Atlanta.  In a moment after this commercial break, we'll be back with the Greek's picks, but first some sad news.  The world of baseball lost two Hall of Famers yesterday, as the St. Louis Cardinals' great Stan Musial died of natural causes at the age of 92.  Musial retired in 1963 with 3630 hits, which was second only to Ty Cobb at the time of his retirement, and is still good enough for fourth best all time behind Pete Rose, Cobb and Hank Aaron.  Also dying yesterday was the great manager of the Baltimore Orioles, Earl Weaver.  Earl led the Orioles for seventeen seasons, including the 1970 World Championship, he was 82 and died of a heart attack on a team-sponsored Orioles cruise yesterday in the Caribbean.  We'll be back after this."

Brent Musburger: "Welcome back to the NFL Today.  They are getting ready for kickoff at the Georgia Dome, and in a moment we will send it to Pat Summerall for the player introductions.  But first, we bring back in Jimmy 'The Greek' Snyder for his analysis and picks for today's games.

The Greek:  "I go down my list here I give a check mark to Atlanta, I give a check mark to San Francisco, these two teams are very evenly matched... Atlanta gets the check mark for kicking because, the kicker for San Francisco has struggled, they even brought the kid in from Baltimore that missed the kick last year, but they're going to stick with the lefty.

Brent: "David Akers"

Greek: "Yeah, Akers from Philly.  Atlanta gets a check mark for having the home field advantage.  And intangibles, you know uh, Gonzalez, he might retire, but it's just not the same like Ray Lewis for the Ravens.  The Falcons finally won a playoff game, I think that the 49ers are just the more well-rounded team, and this Capermash kid, he's the real X-factor, if the Falcons don't keep a spy in the box, he's going to run for 200 yards on that turf down there in the Georgia Dome, and he might anyway, even if they do."

Musburger:  "So you're going with the Forty-Niners?"

Greek: "Yeah, they should've gone to the Super Bowl last year, and this year they're even better."

Musburger:  "Do you have a score?"

Greek:  "Uh... I'll go San Francisco 27, Atlanta 20"

Musburger: "And in the AFC, it's the Ravens, and the Patriots."

Greek:  "Well, I gotta give the check mark for quarterback to Brady, I mean, Flacco is playing great, that great win in Denver, but Brady is going for four rings....  On defense, the Ravens aren't the same Ravens defense like they used to be, but they are still very good... uh team speed, Welker and the other guy, as a the team the Patriots are fast.  Gronkowski is out, but they got Hernandez from Florida, that's another big TE, and coaching wise, a couple of really well-coached teams, you know, but this guy Belicheck might be the best coach of all time.

Musburger:  "The Greek likes the hoodie?"

Greek: "The Greek does like the hoodie, Brent, this is a good team, but you know it's just hard to believe this Patriots team we think of as this dynasty, they haven't won a Super Bowl in eight years.  Last year they should have lost to Baltimore, Brady played a terrible game, it just came down to one play and then the kicker missed the chip shot.  But forget about last year, do you remember, Brent, when they played the previous time in the playoffs, a few years ago, Ray Rice and the Ravens just ran right through the Patriots.

Brent: "So you like Baltimore?"

Greek: "I think it comes down to intangibles. It's hey diddle diddle Ray Rice up the middle, and with Ray Lewis going out, he wants to get another ring, I know Brady wants to tie Bradshaw and Montana with four, but this is Ray Lewis's last chance and that whole team over there on the Baltimore sideline is behind him, it's about worth three check marks in the intangibles right now."

Brent:  "And a score for that game?"

Greek:  "I think it's going to be low scoring, it's going to be Baltimore 20, New England 16."

Brent: "So 20 to 16 Baltimore, so you're picking an all-Harbaugh Super Bowl.  Okay, well they're just about getting ready to kick off down in Atlanta, so we'll send it to Pat and John in a minute.  You're watching the NFL Today on CBS..."