HAPPY NEW YEAR to all from the GUD!!
This will be an abbreviated edition of the rankings. They are listed from 17 to 1 as usual, but only some thoughts will be presented here.
16) Rams-Seahawks: STL in white/navy, SEA in navy/navy. Along with navy helmets and navy socks, it's more Navy than the U.S. Naval Academy.
15) Jaguars-Texans: JAX in white/black, HOU in navy/white. Just another day at the office.
14) Jets-Dolphins: NYJ in green/white, MIA in white/white. Guess I can't expect the Jets to go green bottomed in South Florida and of course Dolphins won't go aqua panted at home anymore. Dear me.
13) Colts-Titans: IND in blue/white, TEN in white/navy. Titans go 7 of 8 in WAH and that's as much as the Cowboys and Dolphins do. Good to see somebody other than these two do so as often. I'd personally like to see about six teams go WAH as often.
12) Browns-Ravens: CLE in white/white. BAL in purple/white, Some folks lamenting the supposed end of the classic Browns look as the Browns have already announced a new look for 2015. Um, excuse me. The Browns have worn white helmets, orange jerseys, orange pants, trimmed numbers, and even jersey numbers on their helmets in the past. Not to mention brown pants and all brown in recent times. Maybe a good old-fashioned jolt to the senses is needed.
11) Cardinals-49ers: ARZ in white/white, SF in red/gold. Good of the Cardinals to stash the red pants for this one. Could have been too much red. Then again...I do like that white over red look...
10) Saints-Buccaneers: NO in white/black, TB in red/pewter. Lots of possible combos here, but this one is better that some others. Red socks by the Bucs is a good choice.
9) Bills-Patriots: BUF in white/blue, NE in navy/silver. Thanks, Bills for wearing the blue pants. Big plus for this encounter.
8) Eagles-Giants: PHI in white/green, NYG in blue/gray. A good one, but me thinks a pair of white pants (on the Giants, not the Eagles) would have sparked this one up a tad.
7) Panthers-Falcons: CAR in white/white, ATL in red/white. I know, I know, we're not going to see it, but jeez, I really would like to see a little uni mash-up from the Panthers when in the white jerseys.
6) Bengals-Steelers: CIN in white/black, PIT in black/yellow. While a lot of black, it's not black overload. Enough orange and yellow to make it zesty.
5) Raiders-Broncos: OAK in white/silver, DEN in orange/white. Every opponent looks better when they head to Denver and the Broncos wear orange jerseys. It just works that way.
4) Lions-Packers: DET in white/silver, GB in green/yellow. Every opponent looks better when they head to Lambeau and the Packer wear green over yellow. It just works that way.
3) Chargers-Chiefs: SD in white/navy, KC in red/white. A good old standby.
2) Bears-Vikings: CHI in white/navy, MIN in purple/white. Vikes spend a season with perfect symmetry. Either white over purple or purple over white. No all whites, no all purples. I approve.
1) Cowboys-Redskins: DAL in white/mint, WSH in burgundy/yellow. Classic clash brings out the best in both.
Be here for the Wild Card round!
Thank you, Tim, for your weekly editions of uniform game ranking. Always enjoy reading your takes.
ReplyDeleteWeek 17 is these last few years, difficult since it's divisional matchups only. Thus, fewer opportunities for the rarities.
The "sour cream" games:
NYJ-MIA - Da U doesn't go WAH on Saturday afternoons, even in September and October. Even in early kickoffs. I wish the Dolphins would break out aqua jerseys more than once or twice a season - either in a night home game or if on the road and their opponents choose WAH.
CIN-PIT - Bengals in black pants is just a no-no. Never liked those.
IND-TEN - it would be a little more understandable if their home was in the Florida peninsula. But the Titans are in Nashville, where it does get cold in the fall and early winter. Such a shame.
JAX-HOU - Jags in black pants - no es bueno.
PHI-NYG - those green pants just have to go.
NO-TB - what does Sean Payton or whoever have against gold pants?
STL-SEA - someone please rescue the Rams from their blue pajama bottoms and white sailor pants.
This leaves 9 games for me to rank.
9. CHI-MIN - not a bad look, but I always have preferred the Bears in white pants at all times.
8. ARI-SF - thankfully the Cards stuck with white pants. SF's gold helmets brought enough spice to this.
7. BUF-NE - FINALLY the Bills wear blue pants at Gillette.
6. CAR-ATL - I've always liked when the Panthers visit Atlanta and each team wears their regular stuff. I just feel the need to rank some games higher.
5. SD-KC - since the Chargers adopted their current uniforms, the only time these two wore anything different at Arrowhead was in '09 during one of those "AFL Legacy" games. These two sets of duds look good against each other.
4. DAL-WAS - will always like this color contrast.
3. OAK-DEN - these two unis look best when the sun is **not** out. It brightens the Bronco orange and also the Raiders silver and black.
2. DET-GB - one of my all-time favorites that have pretty much stayed the same year after year.
1. CLE-BAL - I'm partial to games where one or both teams have gotten it wrong but they both do it right. In this case it was both teams in white pants. On my TV and with an overcast day at M & T Bank these two gave me late December uniform comfort food.