Best NFL Uniform Tournament, Week 3

It's time once again to introduce a new batch of entries in our Best NFL Uniform Of All-Time Tournament.  First let's announce the winners from last week:  The 1981 Falcons defeated the 1934 Portsmouth Spartans 135 to 24 (85%); The 1979 Buccaneers defeated the 1997 49ers 126 to 35 (78%); The 1983 Los Angeles Raiders defeated the 1975 St. Louis Cardinals 100 to 55 (65%) and in what may have been a mild upset, the 1969 Houston Oilers defeated the 2002 Pittsburgh Steelers 103 to 86 (54%).

Week 2 Winners

A couple changes -- initially we were just going to have 128 randomly selected entries which represented a fair amount of different uniforms from each franchise, but since then we have decided to expand the tournament to include pretty much every basic different uniform look that each team has had.  While this may lead to more entries from franchises that have both played longer as well as those that have changed uniform styles more frequently, in the long run, the uniforms that are voted the best will still rise to the top.  That being said, we are going to double up the amount of entries per week, so here are eight matchups to vote on.  Beginning this week, we will be launching a new batch of matchups every Wednesday.

So here are the third group of entries to vote on:

Matchup #9: 1967 Green Bay Packers (green/yellow) vs 1992 Buffalo Bills (blue/white).  This entry pits a classic look from a franchise that has won 4 Super Bowls against the only team to lose four Super Bowls in a row.  The green-over-yellow home uniforms of the Packers have gone virtually unchanged for over fifty years, this uniform set represents the years 1959 to the present for the Green Bay squad.  From the Vince Lombardi years of Paul Hornung and Bart Starr to the Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers era this uniform has had it's share of success.  The Buffalo Bills uniform of the Jim Kelly era, this team made it to the big game only to come up short four years in a row in the early nineties.  This uniform represents the 1984 through 2001 Buffalo seasons.

Matchup #10: 1987 Denver Broncos (white) vs 1998 Baltimore Ravens (purple/white).  This entry for the Broncos road uniforms from 1972 to 1996, a team that, like the 1990s Bills, never quite made it over the hump.  This team won four AFC Championships, three of them with John Elway at quarterback.  The white road uniform was worn in two of those Elway Super Bowl losses, plus a memorable AFC Championship win at Cleveland capped off by "The Drive".  The Ravens wore this uniform combo only two years, 1997 and 1998.  In 1996 the expansion Ravens wore only black pants, and by 1999 they had changed their helmet design due to a copyright infringement claim.

Matchup #11:  1991 Kansas City Chiefs (red/white) vs 1955 Los Angeles Rams (yellow).  The Chiefs' classic home look has remained pretty much unchanged for it's whole existence, even after the early 60s move from Dallas, all they did was change the logo and a slight adjustment to the shade of red.  For the most part the Chiefs uniform worn by Len Dawson in the 60s is the same as the uniform worn by Dwayne Bowe today.  The Rams of Elroy "Crazylegs" Hirsch of the 1950s wore this combo almost exclusively from 1950 through 1957, the white outline of the navy number a staple of the uniform seen mostly in black-and-white photos today.

Matchup #12: 1995 New York Jets (green/white) vs 1975 New Orleans Saints (all white).  The Jets wore this combo through the Ken O'Brien years, the all-green helmet, the increased use of black trims in the 1990s, all-in-all this uniform set represents the 1978 through 1997 N.Y. Jets seasons, in 1998 they switched back to a white helmet more similar to their original look.  The Saints, meanwhile only wore this all-white uniform set for the one season, they had gold pants in 1974 and switched to black pants in 1976.  The all-white monochrome look, with Archie Manning at quarterback suffered through a 2-12 season, with both wins coming in home games wearing this uniform.

Matchup #13:  1981 San Diego Chargers (navy/yellow) vs 2002 Carolina Panthers (alt Panther Blue).  The Chargers of the Dan Fouts era made it two two consecutive AFC Championship games, and wore this uniform set for a decade from 1974 through 1984.  The Panthers have worn this third jersey occasionally during their relatively short existence.

Matchup #14:  2000 New York Giants (white/red numbers/gray) vs 1987 Seattle Seahawks (blue/gray).  The Giants went back to a more classic look after the 1999 season, switching back to the "NY" helmet logo and red numerals on their road jersey, and they promptly went and won the NFC in 2000 and were also wearing this uniform set in 2007 when they upset the 18-0 New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII.  The Seahawks wore this blue/gray combo for every home game from their expansion birth in 1976 through the 2001 season, they are the only NFL team to never wear white at home.

Matchup #15:  2009 Cincinnati Bengals (multiple variations of orange, black and white) vs 1971 Washington Redskins.  This uniform set encompasses all variations of the Bengals' mix-and-match variations they have worn since the beginning of the 2004 season, and the epitome (along with the Buffalo Bills) of what some people would say is what is wrong with the modern football uniform.  The Redskins under George Allen wore this yellow helmet with the "R" logo for only two seasons, ditching it in favor of the new helmet that they still wear to this day that they adopted in 1972 just in time to win the NFC and make it to Super Bowl VII.

Matchup #16:  1992 Dallas Cowboys (white/various shades of blue-gray) vs 2005 Houston Texans.  The classic home and also a-lot-of-the-time on the road as well uniform of the Dallas Cowboys.  The Cowboys' white uniform has become an iconic look from the era of the 1966 Ice Bowl with players like Don Meredith and Lance Rentzel, through the many hall of fame careers like Roger Staubach and Tony Dorsett through the more recent dynasty of Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smiff and Michael Irvin.  The Cowboys like this uniform so much, and since most teams wear their colors at home, they get to wear it almost all of the time.  In January 1981, the Eagles chose to white at home in the NFC Championship Game, forcing the Cowboys to wear their blue uniforms, and the Eagles won and advanced to Super Bowl XV.  The Cowboys have played in seven super bowls, and in six of them, including all five wins, they have worn white.  The Houston Texans expansion team in just getting ready to play it's tenth season, this is their home uniform, they wore it in their first game ever in 2002, defeating the Dallas Cowboys who were wearing this very uniform they are up against in this matchup on ESPN Sunday Night Football.

Matchup #9 1967 Packers 1992 Bills	Matchup #10 1987 Broncos 1998 Ravens	Matchup #11 1991 Chiefs 1955 Rams	Matchup #12 1995 Jets 1975 Saints
Matchup #13 1981 Chargers 2002 Panthers	Matchup #14 2000 Giants 1987 Seahawks	Matchup #15 2009 Bengals 1971 Redskins	Matchup #16 1992 Cowboys 2005 Texans

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There you have the new entries for this week's tournament, be sure to vote.   One other thing we wanted to mention today, it was posted in the comments of yesterday's Uni Watch that the Cleveland Browns will apparently be wearing white at home this season.  Thanks to Joseph Gerard for passing along that information.

Coming up tomorrow, Bill Schaefer will bring us his thoughts on the monochromatic white look that I opined about a couple weeks ago.