Week 15 2015 Weekly Uniform Ranking and...

by Tim Brulia


16) Cardinals-Eagles: ARI in white/white, PHI in alternate black/black. Just...disappointing. The Cardinals disappoint by shelving their red pants. The Eagles disappoint with the all black get up. This just makes me sad to see.

15) Falcons-Jaguars: ATL in white/white, JAX in black/black. Quoting the horse in a Ren & Stimpy cartoon, "No sir, I don't like it." The starkness of all white and all black does me no happy, happy, joy, joy. True, some nice trim colors of red, teal and gold help some, but not enough for me to utter, "Groovy, man,"

14) Dolphins-Chargers: MIA in whte/white, SD in navy/white. After thrilling us all with the dynamic throwback last week, the Dolphins sadly revert to form with the boring white ensemble against the Chargers in their smart navy over white. Aqua pants, where ever art thou???

13) Titans-Patriots: TEN in white/navy, NE in navy/silver. Mucho navy gravy. Titans could have mustered up the columbia blue pants and this would have improved the matchup. A bit. Both teams have red in their color schematic, but it is mainly an afterthought.

12) Bills-Redskins: BUF in white/white, WSH in burgundy/yellow. A dramatic difference a pair of pants make. For if the Bills had chosen their super blue britches for this encounter, it may have been enough for the head of the class. No, this dull set was chosen and not even the Redskins lovely burgundy over yellow could save this one from the lower level.

11) Lions-Saints: DET in white/silver, NO in black/black. A bit torn am I. Would the Saints have been better off with the gold pants in this game? Would that have made for too much metallic hues? Is the all black too strong a contrast to the Lions rather pallid away colors? I think this all washed out and this game is slotted where it should be. I think the all black set could use some more gold below the belt. Think about it for 2016, Saints.

10) Chiefs-Ravens: KC in white/white, BAL in purple/gold. Yes, gold. Well, this one that threw everybody off kilter. No one expected the Ravens to rock, for the first time ever, gold pants. But they did. Lost in the shuffle was the KC in the white over white combo with red socks. As for purple over gold? The gold pants were fascinating, the pant strip was good, except, the Ravens went with a purple/black/purple stripe pattern, which was unnecessary. It junked the set up a bit. Chiefs in red pants would have pumped this matchup a lot, Alas...

9) Texans-Colts: HOU in white/navy, IND in blue/white. I think I'm being fairly consistent here when I say the key element in this matchup is the red jersey numbers of the Texans. With so much blue, navy and white here, the red numbers pop out positively. But still, this matchup is a bit lacking.

8) Panthers-Giants: CAR in white/white, NYG in blue/gray. A fair to middlin matchup, with blues, blacks, reds and silver/grays involved. Panthers all white set seems to stand out in a good way against the Giants blue over gray mode.

7) Packers-Raiders: GB in white/yellow, OAK in silver/black. This is good, not great, not bad, but good. The Raiders in the black over silver set is at once dullish, yet intimidating. The Packers in white over yellow is blah, yet bright with yellow trimmed in green. It makes for something attractive, yet not eye popping.

6) Broncos-Steelers:  DEN in white/white, PIT in black/yellow. The Broncos rather mundane all white navy trim heavy set is helped a lot by the Steelers spot on black over yellow. Can't really explain, but the Broncos white set works here.

5) Jets-Cowboys: NJ in green/white, DAL in white/mint. A nice and clean matchup. Jets greens play well off the Cowboys blues and silvertones. Nothing fancy, just good honest football unis melding as a good get together.

4) Bears-Vikings: CHI in white/navy, MIN in purple/white. Aaah, the NFC North. The sweet confluence of navy, purple, yellow and orange makes this a visual delight. Tradition and contemporary is a good thing.

3) Browns-Seahawks: CLE in white/white, SEA in navy/navy. Browns in their most conservative set offsets quite well the Seahawks navy abundance. The color elements are sharp here, brown, navy, gray, orange and neon green. Works better than originally thought.

2) Buccaneers-Rams: TB in color rush red/red, STL in color rush yellow/yellow. In the final installment of this season's new-fangled Color Rush, we have the Condiment Bowl, ketchup vs. mustard, Heinz vs. French's, etc. But it was a rather cool display. For the Bucs, a nice red jersey that was actually tamer than their normal red jersey. For the Rams, it was a bit of a fauxback hearkening, the days of the yellow jerseys of the 1950's mashed up with the 1973-1999 era jerseys with the sleeve horns. May not be the best, but one I liked a lot.

1) Bengals-49ers: CIN in white/black, SF in red/gold. Yes, this is the way colors can work. Dazzling display of black, red, orange and gold. I just happen to think this works on a lot of levels. Only flaw for me is the Bengals continuing to wear black socks with the black pants. Otherwise, top level matchup!

That is all for now.

Till next time, and on behalf of my cohorts at the GUD (Rob and Bill), we extend our heartiest wishes for the best to you and yours this Holiday season,

Week 14 2015 Weekly Uniform Rankings

by Tim Brulia


16) Titans-Jets: TEN in white.white, NYJ in green/white. Nope, nope, nope. Stop right there. of the eight total color components of this battle, five are white. Titans' helmet, jersey and pants, Jets' helmet and pants. At least one team could have and definitely should have rocked a color element here, namely the pants. I am not amused.

15) Colts-Jaguars: IND in white/white, JAX in black/white. Another team with a really good alternate just wasted. Yes, the Jags have a teal jersey in their closet and this would have been the perfect occasion to bust them out. Instead, the black jersey continues to deaden the nerves. The white pants help, but against the Colts' all whites? Actually, yes. I approve of that. Not enough to lift this one out of the heap.

14) Falcons-Panthers: ATL in white/white, CAR in black/silver. Hmm,,,I just think we needed black pants on one of these teams.  While somewhat dull, the red and light blue trims on the two teams give this matchup just a little verve.

13) Seahawks-Ravens: SEA in white/navy, BAL in purple/black. I love the darkness, but this is a little overkill. Navy pants, black pants, purple jerseys. The Seahawks would have been smart to wear the gray pants here, to avoid the dark dankness.

12) Lions-Rams: DET in white/silver, STL in navy/white. This is a middle of the packer for sure. I normally think the navy over white of the Rams is sharp, but not here. If they still had the gold bottoms, it would have been perfect here. The Lions look stands on its own and bolsters this coupling.

11) Raiders-Broncos: OAK in white/silver, DEN in alternate navy/navy. The Broncs in all navy is just an alternate look these days, and that's a good thing. But while the regular orange tops would have been much better against the Raiders ho-hummish white over silver look, the all-navys hold up surprisingly well. Maybe it's that thick slab of orange on the sides.

10) Steelers-Bengals: PIT in white/yellow, CIN in black/white. AFC North battle where black rules. but the yellow and orange saves the day. Good usage of the colors by both teams. But I'd've cheered more if the Bengals would have rocked a pair of orange socks.

9) Bills-Eagles: BUF in white/blue, PHI in green/white. A little more white than I prefer, but this is a good one. Bills do well to go with the sweet blue trousers, while the Eagles in green juxtapose sweetly against the Bills set.

8) Chargers-Chiefs: SD in white/navy, KC in red/white. Traditional opponents. Chargers navy pants and trim on white jerseys looks pleasing against the Chiefs in the reliable red over white. Nothing fancy, nothing dull, but a fine looking uni matchup.

7) Redskins-Bears: WSH in white/yellow, CHI in navy/white. These go back a long way. But in modern times with modern aesthetics, They look well paired together. A good set of colors, burgundy, navy blue, yellow and orange, make for a nice visual.

6) Saints-Buccaneers: NO in white/black, TB in red/pewter. OK, I should be disgusted by this meeting, instead, I am enchanted. The dull gold of the Saints and the black pants seem to work fabulously against the Bucs red tops and pewter bottoms.

5) Patriots-Texans: NE in white/navy, HOU in alternate red/white. Kept from the top by the Texans' white pants. Still, this meeting delivers. The Texans red is a great antidote to the Pats standard away white over navy, plus I always give style points to games that feature two teams in tri-colors, which this one does (silver/white/navy vs. navy/red/white).

4) Cowboys-Packers: DAL in white/mint, GB in green/yellow. The Cowboys white over mint can get so overbearing, but when it pairs up with that always groovy Packer green over yellow combo, it just looks like the Golden Age of Football. The colors, execution just brims with what a football game should look like, mismatched blues and all.

3) Vikings-Cardinals: MIN in white/purple, ARI in red/white. No Color Rush for this TNF game. It would ave interesting to see what these two would ave been wearing. All purple vs. all red? anyway, the Cardinals are apparently shelving the red pants for 2015. And I suppose, that's a good thing here. The Vikes' purple pants are enough, and both look keen in this encounter.

2) Giants-Dolphins: NYG in white/gray, MIA in throwback aqua/white. What on earth does it take for the Dolphins to get rid of the gross all whites? I guess a prime-time game. This one scores. Dolphins, celebrating their 50th season, wear 1966 era digs. With aqua in full bloom, plus an abundance of sorely missed orange trim. And the Giants with bright blue lids, red trimmed white jerseys, gray pants and red socks make this a delightful color spectacle.

1) 49ers-Browns: SF in white/gold, CLE in alternate orange/brown. Thankfully, the Browns wear what may be the best combo of their bunch. The orange over brown set is a visual treat and the best look so far, and the orange socks accessorize perfectly. Niners comply with the tested but true white over gold, which compliments rather that detract from the matchup.

Comin' back atcha next week!