If Now Was Then...(Part 6)

Last week, we broke ground on the re-imagining of the second half of the NFL through the eyes of...well...myself. If, by chance, right now was the age of long-sleeve jerseys and leather helmets, what would the current crop of NFL teams look like on our HD TVs?

We continue today with the second group of AFC teams.

I present to you the current AFC East.

The AFC East

BUFFALO – The navy outlines are gone off of the stripes and numbers. Royal blue and red are used only.  Blue is the primary jersey and I opted for a red alternate of the same design.

MIAMI – I haven’t been a fan of the new Dolphins unis since they began incorporating navy into the mix and all but lost the sleeve stripes.  I went with early Marino-era sleeve stripes and removed their separations. An orange secondary didn’t look right so I stuck with white.

NEW ENGLAND – The primary design is based on the Pat Patriot era. The secondary is simply the reverse color scheme. The red, white, and blue helmet works well with either combination.

NY JETS – When the Jets became the Jets ("We Were The Titans"), they had some fairly unusual sleeve striping largely centered around the TV numbers. Well, no TV numbers here. I wanted to stick with something as different as the Jets’ sleeves were. I went with a design that reminded me of the Minneapolis Marines and the Staten Island Stapletons with the stripes between elbows and wrists. I applied the same stripes to the socks. A green wing on a white helmet and these are the Jets.

It's unfortunate that we are stuck with two teams in this division with essentially the same color schemes. However, with Buffalo being primarily blue and New England being primarily red, it should not cause an issue.  Also, the different models of helmets and sleeve/shoulder stripes would help tell these rivals apart under the soft glow of black-and-white photography.

Next week, we head west for the penultimate division in our concept journey.

Bill Schaefer