Week 9 Uniform Rankings

Before we get to Tim's rankings, we here at The Gridiron Uniform Database want to unveil a new feature that we told you about earlier this week, and that is the beginning of the addition to the database of the yearly week-by-week uniform displays.  If you'll notice on the main front page, the team names are now clickable, and you can click on them and see the teams uniforms for the year on a week-by-week basis.  You can also access this page by clicking on the "Index" link to the right of the weeks, where you'll see a new section entitled "Historical Teams Week-by-Week Index."  When looking at the 2011 teams, you'll notice that the AFC teams have a little more information than the NFC teams.  As were putting in the information, we decided to eliminate that part of it for now, as our goal is to get the information onto the website as fast as possible.  We intend on adding the 2010 weekly team schedules next week, and adding a year each week as we go forward.  We hope you enjoy this new feature of our website!

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Week 9 Uniform Rankings
by Tim Brulia

Hi, all. My apologies for the tardiness of this week's installments. Without further adieu...

Falcons-Colts: Falcons in the white/white look and the (now) hapless Colts in the normal blue/white get up. Nothing unusual or really exciting about this one. I think the Falcons still have black pants in their closet. That would have helped here.

Browns-Texans: Browns continue to go white/white as the Texans whip out their dark blue/white kit. Again, nothing exciting, but it's not all that bad.

Dolphins-Chiefs: Again, no surprises. But, this is a nice one. Shows what a nice little boost a pair of dark pants provides a uni matchup. If this game were at Miami, it would have been much more dull. With the Fish in white/aqua and the Chiefs in red/white, this is a goody.

Jets-Bills: This one was a pleasant surprise. The Bills decided to go white at home for the first time since October 19, 1986. A span of 25 years. Why? Who knows and who cares? It was an interesting change for sure, and the Jets made the occasion a little better by including their green pants for a green/green combo. While it was rumored in uni circles that the Bills would show off some blue pants, they stayed with a white/white look. But the Bills put a twist on the occasion with the blue socks that are normally worn with the blue jersey. It worked well.

49ers-Redskins: Niners in the white/gold combination while the Redskins went with the yellow pants to go with the burgundy tops. Interesting variations on a burgundy/red and a yellow/gold basis. Not flashy, but I like it.

Seahawks-Cowboys: Of course, with the Cowboys at home, they go white/quasi-silver which make the Seahawks go quasi-blue/quasi-blue. Not really a bad uni match up, but it's one I can't get all that worked up over.

Buccaneers-Saints: Bucs go with white/white here, but they story is that the Saints breakout the 1967 throwbacks for aseconf time this season and the "metal" colors compliment each other. The pewter, the (various shades of) gold, the black, etc. with a hint of Buccaneer red. It works nicely.

Bengals-Titans: In the mid-2000's, these teams would mix and match so often, that this encounter could have been a whole explosion of color. But these have toned it down a little, so what was worn (Bengals in white/white, Titans in columbiablue/navy blue) was not an unexpected jolt. And actually, the Bengals going all white probably worked better than had they worn their black pants for this one.

Broncos-Raiders: Absolutely no surprises here. Broncos in white/white with the Raiders in black/silver. Not bad, but not the best, either.

Packers-Chargers: Chargers going back to dark at home (navy/white). Not a good time to do so as it forced the Packers to go with white/yellow. Always a tad disappointing when the Chargers nix the powder blues, but this is what we have and it's just OK.

Giants-Patriots: Hearkens back to that Super Bowl XLII matchup. Giants in white/gray and the Pats in dark blue/silver. Lots of silver/gray, lots of blue and lots of red. 

Rams-Cardinals: Rams with about every combo possible this season. Their 7th. In the white/gold look and the Cardinals rocking their black alternate jersey with the white pants. Would have been quite interesting and amusing if the Big Red would have trotted out their red pants for the occasion. This was still a nice little matchup here.

Ravens-Steelers: Ravens keep the black pants at home, which did surprise me, to go white/white while the Steelers pulled out their early 1960's throwbacks. I do like to see them once in a while, the yellow helmet/black jersey with 100% yellow trim and the white pants. Alas for the Steelers, the throwbacks did not faze Flacco and his crew as they pulled out a thriller.

Bears-Eagles: Nice color matchup provided by two of the NFL's old guard. Bears in white/navy and the Eagles in the green/white. Smart look by both teams without even trying.

And so, the countdown:

14) Falcons-Colts

13) Seahawks-Cowboys

12) Giants-Patriots

11) Broncos-Raiders

10) Browns-Texans

9) Packers-Chargers

8) Ravens-Steelers

7) Buccaneers-Saints

6) Rams-Cardinals

5) 49ers-Redskins

4) Bengals-Titans

3) Bears-Eagles

2) Dolphins-Chiefs

1) Jets-Bills

One Month Anniversary

As many of you know, on June 12 we launched this website of ours -- a website devoted to the study of the uniforms worn by professional football teams, centered around our database of images of all of the uniforms worn in the NFL since 1933.  The images created by our Bill Schaefer, which were based on research by Tim Brulia, have been displayed on this website, maintained by Rob Holecko, for a full month as of today.  We launched with an article on Uni Watch (right) and we were off and running.

We have experienced some technical issues in the past week, and also with other time commitments, we have decided to make a few changes to insure the long term viability of this site.  Last month when we launched, we felt it would be feasible to have a daily blog, in the style of the Uni Watch website.  For the most part we have held to this, however with much of our audience being the Uni Watch community, we have consciously made a decision to not try to "be another Uni Watch."  The nature of the main purpose of the blog, which was to be a vehicle to announce changes to the database, has become, over the first month, redundant and superfluous.  The database changes themselves have generally already been discussed in the forum, and to continue to try to keep coming up with different ways of saying, "we have changed this to this" was becoming ponderous, even only in the first month of existence.

So tomorrow we will be launching a minor redesign and a re-focusing of our efforts.  Instead of trying to continually announce database changes, the blog will now focus on bringing you articles that tell the stories behind the database changes and about professional football uniforms in general.  Articles like the ones that we have brought you in our first month such as Tim's piece of the 1941 Philadelphia Eagles or Bill's piece on another theory of the 1962 Denver Broncos helmet, plus features such as the Best NFL Uniform of All Time Tournament Contest (which will be returning tomorrow) will now be the focus of this blog, while the database changes themselves, which will continue to be debated and discussed in our forum, will be simply updated in the database as they are made.  A list will be maintained somewhere on the site, and updated as changes are made.

Therefore join us tomorrow as we begin our second month on the internet, hopefully the second of many months to come.

While we cannot promise to have new content every single day, we will strive to continue to bring fresh new football uniform content on a regular basis.  For daily content about athletic aesthetics of all sorts, we urge you to do what we do, and continue to read Uni Watch every morning.

Speaking of Uni Watch, we'd be remiss if we here at The Gridiron Uniform Database did not pass along our condolences as well, to Phil Hecken and the entire Uni Watch family on the passing of Phil's father.