A Head-to-Head History: The New York Giants and The San Francisco 49ers

A Head-to-Head History: The New York Giants and The San Francisco 49ers

The 2011 NFC Championship Game was one of the most exciting, hard hitting and tightly contested games of the 2001 season, and it recalled a battle for the right to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl 22 years prior, which I wrote about in my very first blog for the GUD last January. For fans of both teams, the week leading up to the game was undoubtedly spent not only scouting match-up advantages, but also reminiscing to a time when the San Francisco - New York rivalry was white hot.

Between the years 1981 - 1993 they met in the playoffs six times, with the winner of the contest ultimately being crowned Super Bowl Champions four times. A dramatic Wild Card Game in 2002 brings the total of playoff meetings to eight, making the Giants the 49ers most frequent post season opponent (they've met Dallas seven times and have a 2-5 record against them) and San Francisco is tied with Chicago as the New York's most frequent opponent (they are 3-5 against the Bears, but five of those meetings predate the Super Bowl era.)

The series has not only been intense, it has been remarkably even. The regular season ledger has  each team with 14 wins apiece and San Francisco with the slightest margin of edges in total points scored with seven. The post season is even tighter, with a 4-4 split in wins and a miniscule two point lead for San Francisco. Memorable Prime Time contests, career defining moments, Hall of Fame Coaches and players and Championship Battles define this inter-division rivalry.

The 49ers were still something of a new commodity when they made a cross country trip to New York's Polo Grounds in November of 1952, this being only their seventh season of play and third since their migration from the AAFC to the NFL. As was common at the time, this game was color-versus-color. San Francisco was one of four teams to have only one jersey, and only four of the remaining eight teams had white as an option. The Giants primary jersey dating back to the late 1930's was solid red - there was no home-road designation at that time - so they would wear their alternate solid blue when they met a team red wearing team like the 49ers. The grey pants and blue shelled helmet with a red center stripe gave the Giants a look that would not be out of place today. The same could be said of San Francisco in regard to their jerseys and socks, which were red with three equal width white stripes. The only unfamiliar aspect with the 49ers of  today would be the silver helmets and pants, which were something of a variable. Over the first 17 years of their history the 49ers alternated between silver, gold and white as their secondary color, until permanently settling on gold in 1964.  Y.A. Tittle's 358 passing yards in the game were more than double than his counterpart and future teammate Charley Conerly's output, but four interceptions doomed the 49ers in the 23-14 loss.

The next meeting came on opening day of the 1956 season in San Francisco's Kezar Stadium. After an explosive first quarter that saw New York take a 17-0 lead, and the teams traded touchdown along the way to a 38-21 Giants victory. As in the game four years earlier, Tittle threw for over 300 yards in the failed comeback effort, but turned the ball over with three interceptions. This color-versus-color match-up featured San Francisco in solid white helmets and white pants with a broad red stripe with their same three-stripe red jerseys and socks. The Giants wore their same solid blue jerseys and stripe-less grey pants. This win was the first step for New York in an 8-3-1 season and NFL Championship victory over Chicago. It would be the Giants last title for 30 years.

1957 saw the NFL pass legislation, largely to accommodate the league's growing black-and-white television watching audience, declaring each team have two jerseys, one primary color and the other white. For the most part, home teams almost always wore their primary color jerseys at home and white on the road. This was the year the Giants actually became "Big Blue". Three thin stripes were to the pants (red-blue-red separated by grey) and bold white numbers to both the front and back of the helmet, flanking the red stripe. This uniform is nearly identical to what the Giants wear today. San Francisco had worn their first white jersey in 1955, which featured black and red stripes on the sleeves and black drop-shadows on the numbers, but they only lasted the season. Their latest white jersey incorporated the newly returned gold prominently, two of the three sleeve and sock stripes were now gold - and complimented the solid gold helmet and pants nicely. Tittle's team finally broke into the win column against the Giants in old Yankee Stadium, 27-17. San Francisco finished the year tied for first in the NFL Western Conference with the Detroit Lions, but fell victim to a Bobby Layne comeback in a 31-27 loss in a playoff.

1960 saw the teams meet on opening day at Kezar Stadium, in a very red and silver/grey match-up. The Giants of course wore the designated road white jerseys with red numbers and Northwestern sleeve stripes and red socks. San Francisco remained in their standard red jerseys with three white stripes and white block numbers, but silver was back as their complimentary color for helmets and pants. The helmets now featured a unique, red Northwestern style striping pattern. The Giants won a close game 21-19.

By 1963 many changes had occurred for both teams. Tittle was now in New York wearing blue and both teams helmets featured their first logos. The Giants were in their third season sporting their lowercase "ny" and San Francisco the red oval with the interlocking "SF". The 49ers helmets  also featured the same red-white-red striping pattern they use now, but they still fell on a silver shell. The road white jerseys featured two over-the-shoulder UCLA stripes. Tittle had a huge day against his former team with four touchdown passes, on his way to a then record 36 touchdown passes. The Giants would win the Eastern Conference but lost the title game for the third consecutive year.

When these two teams met in 1968 in Yankee Stadium, the rivalry was just beginning

When the teams met again in Yankee Stadium in 1968, the 49ers had found their signature look, and the Giants had embarked on a period of experimentation. San Francisco was now in "49'er Gold" for good, and although the pants stripes would eventually grow larger, the red-white-red pattern was set, and the red sleeve stripes on the white jerseys fell in the same the same three-stripe pattern as the white stripes on the red jerseys. For the Giants, although the solid blue home jerseys were the same, the pants were now white with an inverted blue-red-blue striping pattern, and the numbers on the front and back of the helmets were thinner and much larger. Fran Tarkenton and the Giants offense struggled as New York fell to John Brodie's 49ers 26-10.

The Giants started a five game win streak against the 49ers in 1972 with their first visit to Candlestick Park. The Giants white jerseys were now nearly absent of any red, appearing only in the thin blue-red-blue striping on the sleeve cuffs. By the second meeting in 1975 things had changed radically for New York. A major (and uncharacteristic) overhaul took place for the normally conservative Giants. White and red stripes were everywhere, and the pants featured broad blue and red stripes (with the white jerseys the pants were blue with white and red stripes). Most alarming though, was a bold, double-vision inducing "NY" logo on the helmet. Still more unusual than the Giants outfits that day, was the fact that both teams were in a simultaneous down period. For all five contests between the Giants and 49ers between
1975 - 1980, they finished with losing records at or near the bottom of their respective divisions.

When the 6-6 Giants visited 9-3 San Francisco in November 1981, neither team had any idea a major rivalry was about to be born. Over the next 12 years, a 49ers - Giants game was as important and as intense as any 49ers-Rams or Giants-Redskins battle. San Francisco and Bill Walsh's "West Coat Offense"  had the upper hand at the start, winning five straight, including two Divisional Playoff Games. The 49ers uniforms had not changed significantly, excepting the large width of the pants stripes. In the meantime, the Giants modified back to a more conventional style that greatly resembled their look from the early 70's. Blue-red-blue stripes ran down the white pants and across the cuffs and v-necks of the white jerseys, and the socks were again solid blue. The italicized, underlined "GIANTS" logo from 1976 was now on a helmet featuring a single red stripe and bold numbers only on the back.

The 1981 game was a low scoring affair, with the 49ers winning 17-10 in a tightly contested, defensive battle. The Giants won their last three games to finish with a  a 9-7 record and their first playoff birth since Y.A. Tittle's remarkable 1963 season. The 49ers also won out, closing the regular season with a franchise best 13-3 record and a first round bye. The Giants upset the Eagles in Philadelphia in the Wild Card Game, earning the right for a rematch with the 49ers. The game was a reversal of the recent pattern, with both teams scoring often. Scott Brunner had taken over for the injured Phil Simms late in the year and hit Johnny Perkins and Earnest Gray on long scoring strikes. Montana however, was more efficient and had a 300-yard effort as he completed passes to eight different receivers in the 38-24 win. This game was of course, the prelude to a classic as the 49'er dynasty officially launched against Dallas with Dwight Clark's famous catch the following week and ultimately a victory in Super Bowl XVI.

The teams did not meet until an October Monday night at Giants Stadium in 1984. The Giants home jerseys had changed quite a bit since San Francisco's last visit in 1979 - the rookie year for their quarterbacks Montana and Phil Simms. The pants and socks were unchanged from the road uniform. The royal blue jersey had white block numbers with red trim, and the sleeve cuffs and v-neck had red-white-red stripes. This would be the Giants standard uniform through the 1999 season. The improved look did not help New York though. San Francisco jumped all over the Giants early with big plays: a 59 touchdown by Renaldo Nehmiah and 79-yard punt return by Dana MacLemore gave San Francisco a 21-0 lead before the first quarter was over and the Giants were never able to amount a comeback, losing 31-10.

As in 1981, the teams would meet in Candlestick Park for a Divisional Playoff. The Giants again qualified as a Wild Card entry 2ith a 9-7 record, and the 49ers were the NFC's top seed with a 15-1 record (a new record for the most wins by an NFL team in the regular season.) San Francisco followed the same recipe for success: they jumped ahead early, scoring touchdowns on their first two possessions, before both defenses settled in and controlled the pace of the game. The Giants only touchdown of the game came on an interception return by linebacker Harry Carson in the 21-10 loss. The 49ers rolled on to their second championship in four seasons as they bested the Miami Dolphins 38-16 in Super Bowl XIX.

New York and San Francisco met in the post season again in 1985, only this time the game would be in the Wild Card round at Giants Stadium, New York's first home playoff game since 1962. The hallmarks of the Bill Parcells Giants were on full display that cold, windy afternoon: a rugged defense that sacked Montana four times and an offense that moved the chains and controlled the clock with the run as Joe Morris chugged for 141 yards on 30 carries. The Giants run ended in Chicago the next week, again bowing to the eventual Super Bowl champions.

1986 brought another prime time game and another playoff contest between the two NFC powers. The December 1 match-up on Monday Night Football remains a signature game for Simms and the pinnacle moment of teammate Mark Bavaro's career. Again jumping ahead early, the 49ers led 17-0 at halftime as their defense stymied the Giants run game {for the game, the Giants would finish with a measly 13 yards on 19 carries} and forced Simms into two takeaways {one fumble and one interception.} Facing a third down on their first possession of the third quarter, Simms found Bavaro short over the middle, who then dragged as many as seven San Francisco players up-field for over 20 yards. The Giants followed Bavaro's lead and stormed back to take a 21-17 lead before the period ended. The Giants held on through a tense fourth quarter, thwarting a Montana comeback effort on the last drive.

Giants Stadium was the setting for the Divisional Playoff in January. After forcing the Giants offense to a three-and-out to start the game, Montana hit receiver Jerry Rice on a slant that should've ended with a touchdown. Rice mishandled the ball while racing toward the end zone and the Giants recovered for a touch-back. Simms lead New York on an 80-yard march that ended with a touchdown toss to Bavaro and the Giants never looked back, winning 49-3. The Giants ultimately went on to win their first NFL Title since 1956 in Super Bowl XXI.

A Monday night game with replacement players during the strike in 1987 is not worth mentioning, but Rice atoned for his playoff gaffe at Giants Stadium in September 1988. Coach Walsh was enamored with his newly acquired quarterback Steve Young, and he split time with Montana during the game, with both achieving mixed results. Trailing 17-13 late in the fourth quarter though, Montana was at his most dangerous. He hit Rice with a short pass along the sideline, safety Kenny Hill took a bad angle on the tackle attempt and took out corner back Mark Collins, freeing Rice to go the distance as he secured the ball this time for a game winning 78-yard touchdown.

There would be no playoff meeting this season, but that did not mean the rivalry became dormant. Both teams finished with 10-6 records, but the Giants loss to the Jets on the season's final Sunday knocked them into second place in the NFC East. That put the Giants in the position of needing the 49ers to defeat the Los Angeles Rams that night to qualify as a Wild Card. Simms predicted the 49ers would "lay down like dogs" and the final score seemed to imply that was the case as the Rams rolled to an easy 38-16 win in Candlestick Park. San Francisco would regroup and coast through the NFC Playoffs and win a dramatic victory over Cincinnati in Super Bowl XXIII.

The Monday night game at San Francisco in November 1989 followed a familiar script with the 49ers jumping out to a 24-7 in the first half. Simms and the Giants chipped away, eventually locking the score up at 24 in the 4th quarter. An off-sides penalty on Giants special teams ace Reyna Thompson gave San Francisco kicker Mike Cofer a second chance on a long field goal and San Francisco escaped with a 34-24 win. The 49ers again  avoided a playoff match-up with the Giants thanks to the Rams, as they upset the Giants in a 19-13 overtime game at Giants Stadium. San Francisco then thrashed the Los Angeles following week in the NFC Title game and repeated   as Super Bowl Champs by beating Denver Super Bowl XXIV.

1990 brought another memorable Monday night game (and an already mentioned epic playoff game linked at the top of the page.) Both defenses dominated, limiting the opposing offenses under 150 total yards. All 10 points came in the second quarter, and Simms again attempted a comeback effort for the visiting Giants. Trailing 7-3 and faced with a fourth down deep in 49ers territory late in the game, Coach Bill Parcells passed on a field goal attempt that would've cut the lead to one point. The Giants pass attempt fell incomplete, but they held San Francisco to a three-and-out and received the ball with one more chance. Again advancing into the red zone, the game ended with a series of incomplete passes and 49ers safety Ronnie Lott and Simms exchanging heated words on the field after the gun.

Ottis Anderson runs through
49ers defense on a Monday
Night in 1991

Both squads underwent significant changes during the off season, but the 1991 season opener on Monday Night Football was eerily similar replay to the NFC Championship Game from the previous January. Although the Giants roster was mostly the same, coaching stalwarts Parcells and Bill Belichick were gone, and playoff hero Jeff Hostetler was named the starter at quarterback. The 49ers said goodby to Lott and Roger Craig, and had Young commanding the offense. Gone also were the stripes from San Francisco's socks, which were now solid red. The game itself saw another long range score by Rice - this time from 73 yards on a blown coverage, and the Giants finally hitting pay-dirt against their West Coast rivals on a one-yard run by Ottis Anderson to finish another methodical, time consuming drive. A pair of Matt Bahr field goals gave the Giants a halftime lead of 13-7. A San Francisco drive spanned the end of the scoreless third quarter and closed with a Young touchdown run early in the fourth. Taking over at their own 22-yard line with just over four minutes left, Hostetler drove the Giants into San Francisco territory. Bahr had missed a 51 yard attempt earlier in the quarter, but the 34-yard attempt with just 5 seconds remaining was good, and the Giants ended the 49ers NFL record road win streak at 19 games. However, for the first time since 1982, both teams finished on the outside of the NFC Playoffs. The Giants were 8-8 and would spend the rest of the 1990's in mediocrity. The 49ers were 10-6 and would spend the next several years battling the Dallas Cowboys for conference supremacy.

This trend is reflected by San Francisco's sweeping the next five games in the series, including a 44-3 Divisional Playoff blowout in 1993 that sent Simms and Lawrence Taylor into retirement. The regular season games in 1995 and 1998 in Candlestick Park were almost as one sided, with an cumulative score favoring San Francisco 51-13. The 1998 Monday night game saw the 49ers in the throwback-inspired uniforms that I wrote about in detail back in July: http://nfluniforms.blogspot.com/2012_08_19_archive.html

Given all the prime time exposure these teams received when they met, it should come as no surprise that the NFL chose to feature them in the first ever Thursday night season kickoff. By now, the Giants had returned toward their roots with their own version of an updated throwback-style uniform. Working from the Giants 1963 template, they grey pants were back, but with the 80's-90's blue-red-blue striping pattern. The brighter, metallic-blue helmet bore a bolder "ny" logo that hadn't been seen since 1974, and bold block numbers flanked the red center stripe. The game itself felt like throwback too. A tightly contested defensive effort that recalled the 1990 and 91 match-ups. This time however, the 49ers benefited from a game winning drive as Jeff Garcia hit Terrell Owens deep down the left sideline on first down, setting up Jose Cortez for a 36-yard kick and a 16-13 win.

Not to be outdone, the teams met in a dramatic {either unforgettable or infamous, depending on your point of view} NFC Wild Card Game the following January. The Giants, in their white jerseys with red numbers augmented by blue trim, roared out to a 28-14 lead at the half and extended it to 38-14 with only 4:30 remaining the the third quarter. The Kerry Collins-to-Amani Toomer connection had been unstoppable, connecting for over 100 yards and three touchdowns, and Tiki Barber added over 100 yards rushing with a touchdown of his own. Garcia responded with a quick touchdown drive that was capped by a crucial two-point conversion to Owens. The Giants went three-and-out, and Matt Allen shanked a feeble 29-yard punt from his own 13. Garcia responded in no time with a two play, 29-yard drive that again featured a two point conversion to Owens on the last play of the quarter. With the score now 38-30, the Giants went three-and-out again. Garcia led San Francisco on a 14-play drive that ate half the quarter and finished with a field goal, cutting New York's tenuous lead to 38-33. The Giants offense finally generated a few first downs before stalling at the 49ers 24. A low snap and bobbled hold cause Matt Bryant's field goal to sail wide, and Garcia capitalized on the momentum swing. Taking over on his own 32, he lead the 49ers to the New York 13 in under two minutes, then threw the decisive scoring pass to Tai Streets with 1:05 on the clock. The the two-point attempt failed this time, but the 49ers had a 39-38 lead. Following a kickoff return to mid-field, Collins completed three passes to get the Giants to the 49ers with 0:06 to go. Again, a poor snap-and-hold doomed the Giants, only this time holder Allen called "Fire!", rolled to his right, and launched a deep pass down field toward guard Rich Suebert, who was mistakenly penalized for being ineligible (although another Giants player Tam Hopkins was down field illegally on the play as well). Suebert was interfered by Chike Okeafor, but no flag was thrown, and the game ended with San Francisco being the beneficiaries of the NFL's second largest deficit overcome to win in the post season. The next day, NFL Vice President of officiating Mike Pereira acknowledged pass interference should have been called on Okeafor, with the offsetting fouls resulting in the Giants being granted an untimed down from the previous spot. The 49ers lost to Tampa Bay in the Divisional Playoffs the following week.

In 2002 playoffs, eligible lineman Seubert had a chance to be a hero
on a broken play, but he was interfered with, although it wasn't called

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Both teams went into a period of struggle and renewal after the 2002 season. When they met again in November 2005 in Candlestick Park, the Giants were reemerging under the stewardship of coach Tom Coughlin and quarterback Eli Manning. The Giants also revamped their road uniforms, now drawing directly to the same ones they wore in 1958 with plain red numbers, red Northwestern stripes on the sleeves and the thin, separated red-blue-red stripes on the pants and solid red socks. The Giants defense had the upper hand, limiting the 49ers offense to just nine first downs and 138 total yards. Back-to-back meetings in the Meadowlands saw more of the same as changes at quarterback for San Francisco (Trent Dilfer in '07 and J.T. O'Sulivan in '08) couldn't solve their struggles.

When the 6-2 Giants met the 7-1 49ers in Candlestick Park last November, the 49ers had returned to their classic uniforms from the late 60's through the mid 90's (although the socks remained without stripes). It was fitting, because the 49ers were atop the NFC West and prepared to battle the Giants for NFC supremacy again. Defenses had the upper hand as San Francisco built a 12-6 lead midway through the 4th quarter in an exchange of field goals. After a Manning touchdown pass, San Franciso scored back-to-back touchdowns early in the fourth quarter for a 28-14 lead. A Manning touchdown pass cut the lead to seven and the Giants defense held Alex Smith's offense to a three-and-out, setting up another tense finish. Starting from their own 20 with 6:35 left, the Giants moved methodically to the San Francisco 10. On fourth-and-goal at 0:37, Manning's pass attempt was deflected by defensive tackle Justin Smith to preserve the win for San Francisco.

Both teams won their respective divisions and met again for the NFC Championship in Candlestick Park. Tight end Vernon Davis burned the Giants defense early on a 73-yard touchdown reception that featured fancy footwork to stay in-bounds along the sideline. The Giants offense moved the ball well in the first half, with Manning and wide receiver Victor Cruz connecting numerous times to send New York into the half with a 10-7 lead. The 49ers made defensive adjustments during the break, and began to clamp down, stifling the Giants passing game with fierce pressure (they'd finish the game with seven sacks and numerous other hits on the quarterback.) Another Davis touchdown catch regained the lead for the 49ers, but a special teams miscue by returner Kyle Williams set New York up with a short field when he let a punt graze his knee which was recovered by the Giants. On third down, Manning hit Mario Manningham for a 17 yard touchdown and a 20-17 lead with 8:40 remaining in regulation. Williams responded with a 40-yard return on the ensuing kickoff, and Alex Smith passed and scrambled San Francisco all the way to the New York seven yard line. The drive stalled at the New York seven and the 49ers settled for a tying field goal at 5:43. Both defenses tightened in the clutch, as six offensive possessions produced just one first down and the game entered sudden death. New York won the coin toss and both teams exchanged punts. On the third possession of the extra period, the Giants punted from their own 44. Williams fielded the punt, but had the ball stripped by Jaquain Williams and the Giants recovered on the 49ers 24 yard line. The Giants ran the ball three times and knelt once before Lawrence Tynes kicked the game winning field goal from 31 yards out, becoming the first player in NFL history to kick deciding overtime field goals in the post-season. The Giants went on to defeat New England in Super Bowl XLVI - making this the fifth instance the winning team from their playoff series advanced to win the Super Bowl.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

San Francisco will be looking for revenge this Sunday, but if history tells us anything, its that this game will likely only serve as a prelude to another memorable playoff contest.

Matching Rivals: 49ers and Buccaneers

This off-season our guest columnist Larry Schmitt wrote blog articles looking at "matching rivals," pairs of teams -- such as the Cowboys and Lions or the Chargers and Rams -- whose appearance has mirrored each other during a certain time period.  Today he concludes this series with a look at two teams you ordinarily wouldn't think of as "matching," the San Francisco 49ers and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.  Larry shows us, however, that during a ten year period from 1997 to 2007 they indeed looked very similar.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers joined the NFL as an expansion team in 1976, and immediately made a splash on the football field. It wasn't necessarily with their play (they would not win a game until late in their second season) but with their appearance. The colors are reminiscent of the era they were born, the 1970's: bright "Florida Orange", red and white, while the Errol Flynn inspired logo "Bucco Bruce" was at home in Gulf Coast Florida. No other team has looked like the Buccaneers before or since. Today they are fondly considered classics, and have been nicknamed "Creamsicle Uniforms" when they are broken out as throwbacks.

While the 1979 49ers got their 2nd win over
a playoff-bound Buccaneer team, the 1980
Bucs would get their revenge a year later.
The revenge would be short-lived, however,
as the Bucs wouldn't win another
west coast game until 1996.

Coming from a completely different direction are the San Francisco 49ers. Their red and gold roots trace all the way back to the leather-helmet era AAFC of the late 1940's. For the first 18 years of their existence, the 49ers switched back-and-forth between gold and silver as the complimentary color to their standard red. San Francisco's iconic look finally appeared for the 1964 season. The gold helmet and pants, featuring red-white-red center stripes, scarlet jerseys with white block numbers, and three white stripes on the sleeves and socks became very familiar to football fans in the 1980's, as the 49ers emerged and the league's dominant team, winning four Super Bowls behind Hall of Famers Joe Montana and Ronnie Lott.

It probably comes as a surprise that these seemingly distinct franchises have more in common than quarterbacks named Steve (Spurrier and Young).

Both teams remained steady and true with their uniforms through the mid 1990's. The NFL's 75th anniversary season of 1994 introduced a new concept that would shake up many teams concepts of uniform design - the throwback.

Three years before they donned pewter,
the Bucs looked nothing like the 49ers,
who in 1994 were dressing like it was 1955.

San Francisco's selection for their retro uniform was based on their 1955 set. Like many teams, their accuracy was slightly less than perfect (the NFL would have benefited from having the GUD in 1994!). They retained their contemporary helmets, but the white pants and drop-shadow numbers were an instant hit with fans. The NFL had originally intended for the 75th Anniversary throwbacks to be worn during designated weekends early in the season, but capitalized on their popularity, and granted teams permission to continue using them for the duration of the season. The 49ers continued their trek to Super Bowl XXIX wearing uniforms that closely resembled the ones worn by Joe Perry and Leo Nomellini.

Given NFL Properties strict guidelines regarding uniform or logo changes being submitted before licensees can adapt, San Francisco and the rest of the league looked very much as before in 1995. The following season, however, brought much change.

The 49ers revamped their entire ensemble for the 1996 season, including their color palette. Gone were the scarlet jerseys and "Forty-Niner Gold" pants (which were almost beige), replaced by cardinal jerseys and white pants with black and red stripes (inverted from the original red-black-red pattern). Black drop-shadows were back on the numbers, now accented with gold trim. A newly stylized interlocking "SF" logo appeared on the three sleeve stripes, which were also trimmed black shadows. The red-white-red helmet stripes were replaced by a cardinal stripe with black trim, and the face mask was now also cardinal. The white pants only lasted two years, replaced by brighter, more metallic gold with a cardinal center stripe flanked by two black stripes with the oval "SF" logo on the hip. This was a unique design that was rooted in 49ers past giving it a throwback feel, but also with a modern feel at the same time.

The Steve Mariucci era began in Tampa on
Opening Day 1997, where the new-look Bucs
knocked out Steve Young and
Jerry Rice.  Five years later...

In 1997, the Buccaneers did not have much of a past to draw from. In their 21 season in the NFL they pretty much wore the same Florida Orange uniforms. When it came time for a change they went forward into the future. Florida Orange became pewter, and Bucco Bruce became the Jolly Roger. Head coach Tony Dungy's team would not only have a new look as they moved from Tampa Stadium into Raymond James Stadium (featuring it's own pirate ship at one end zone), they would experience new on-the-field success as well.

Stripeless, pewter helmets featured the new logo of a red pirate flag suspended from a sabre, and a black face mask. Red jerseys with black trim and a black alternate logo on the sleeves. The three-tone block numbers were white with orange and black trim. Pewter pants featured similar three-tone striping: a bold red stripe trimmed with orange and black. The socks were solid black. Clearly, the new image the team was seeking was one of intimidation. For a change of pace, an alternate pair of white pants with the same striping pattern was available and would be worn with either the red or white jersey.

...the Mariucci era came to an end there as
well, in another defeat to a Buccaneer
team on it's way to a Super Bowl
Championship

As fate would have it, Tampa Bay opened the 1997 regular season at home against San Francisco. As is the Buccaneers tradition of early season warm-weather games, they opted for white at home. Warren Sapp, Derrick Brooks and John Lynch terrorized the 49ers' usually potent offensive attack and came away with a 13-6 victory, a springboard to a 10-6 season and Tampa Bay's first playoff birth in 15 seasons.

San Francisco went back to gold pants for the 1998 season, and they featured a very similar trait as the Buccaneers - the broad red center stripe, flanked by gold and black trim. The 49ers also added their oval "SF" logo to the hip. Like Tampa Bay the season before, San Francisco debuted their new uniform at home with an inspiring victory, this one an overtime thriller versus the Jets, that was won with a 96-yard gallop by Garrison Hearst in overtime. Their 12-4 record earned the 'Niners a home Divisional Playoff contest against the defending NFC Champion Packers. Again San Francisco triumphed in dramatic fashion, this time with Steve Young hitting Terrell Owens with a 25-yard pass at the goal line in between two defenders for the come-from-behind 30-27 win.

Four seasons later, San Francisco would meet Tampa Bay again, this time in the post-season. The Buccaneers wore their red jerseys and pewter pants at home in the Divisional round.. Last minute heroics were not needed, as they defeated Jeff Garcia's 49ers 31-6, on their way to a victory in Super Bowl XXXVII. Tampa Bay had come a long way from John McKay's "Creamsicle" outfitted team that lost their first 26 games in 1976 and '77.

As the 2000's moved forward, nostalgia reigned supreme as San Francisco brought back their classic scarlet and "Forty-Niner Gold" uniforms as throwbacks (including for a game against Tampa Bay in 2005. Ultimately this became their standard uniform again in 2009, keeping only the updated oval "SF" logo on the helmets and stripe-less socks.  The Buccaneers "Florida Orange" uniforms also returned in 2009 for the first time since 1996 as throwbacks. They continue that retro designation, as the Buccaneers retain their pewter and red outfits on most Sundays.

~   ~   ~   ~   ~

8/31/97 SF (red - white pants) at TB ("White At Home"- pewter pants)

1/12/03 SF (white) at TB (red - pewter pants)  NFC Div. Playoff

10/19/03 TB (white - pewter pants) at SF (red)

11/21/04 SF (white) at TB (red - pewter pants)

10/30/05 TB (white - pewter pants) at SF (red throwbacks)

12/23/07 TB (white - pewter pants) @ SF (red)

~   ~   ~   ~   ~

Mike Singletary didn't think the Bucs and 49ers looked as similar as the
author: "We are not going to take the field dressed
like them!  Can't do it.  Won't do it."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Thanks, Larry, for a wonderful piece on my favorite team the Bucs, and a wonderful series all summer long in general.  We look forward to many more entertaining columns from you appearing in the Gridiron Uniform Database Blog in the future.  

As far as the Bucs and 49ers go, they continue to go 'round and 'round, both aesthetically as well as on the field.  In 2010, the again upstart Bucs led by Raheem Morris went into Candlestick and shut out the 49ers 21-0 on the way to a 10-6 mark in Morris' second year.  The defeat came in the waning weeks of Mike Singeltary's tenure as Niners' head coach, but in 2011 the tide again turned as Jim Harbaugh's squad shut down the Bucs 48-3 in Week 5.  The Bucs would win only one more game last year and finish the season with ten straight losses and Morris would be fired, while in Harbaugh's first year the 49ers would make it all the way to the NFC Championship, only a fumbled punt away from a Super Bowl berth. 

Super Bowl XVI

Super Bowl XVI
by Rob Holecko


On this day thirty years ago, the San Francisco 49ers captured their first Super Bowl.  It was the beginning of the Niners' 1980s dynasty that would see them win four Super Bowls with Joe Montana at quarterback, as well as a fifth with Steve Young in 1994.

The Niners' return to prominence this season ended Sunday with a loss to the Giants in the NFC Championship Game, but today we will look back to this game in January 1982 where it all began.

From Wikipedia:

Super Bowl XVI was an American football game played on January 24, 1982, at the Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan (a suburb of Detroit) to decide the National Football League champion following the 1981 regular season. It marked the first time that a Super Bowl was held at a cold-weather city. The domed stadium saved the crowd at the game from the very cold and snowy weather, but the weather did affect traffic and other logistical issues related to the game. Icy roads and a windchill well below zero caused the 49ers motorcade to be delayed out on the slippery roads before they finally made it to the Silverdome, although no one was hurt and the team made it there with plenty of time before kickoff.

The National Football Conference NFC champion San Francisco 49ers (16-3) defeated the American Football Conference AFC champion Cincinnati Bengals (14-5), 26-21. Although the Bengals gained 356 yards of total offense to the 49ers' 275, San Francisco forced 5 turnovers and jumped to a 20-0 lead by halftime. This marked the first time in Super Bowl history that the team which compiled the most yards and touchdowns lost.
49ers quarterback Joe Montana was named the Super Bowl MVP, completing 14 of 22 passes for 157 yards and one touchdown, while also rushing for 18 yards and a touchdown on the ground.

This game was also the first Super Bowl for the CBS team of Pat Summerall and John Madden. Summerall had already worked eight Super Bowls, including three as the play-by-play voice for CBS (X, XII, XIV), but this was the first Super Bowl for the two of them together.  They would go on to do four more with CBS (XXVIII, XXI, XXIV, XXVI) as well as three with FOX (XXXI, XXXIII, XXXVI) while Madden would team up with Al Michaels to do 2 on ABC (XXXVII & XL) and another with NBC (XLIII).    Madden debuted the use of the telestrator called the 'CBS Chalkboard' to diagram plays during instant replays in this game.

We are proud to add this game to our collection of head-to-head match-ups in the Gridiron Uniform Database.

~ ~ ~

In all the excitement over Sunday's thrilling Conference Championship games, we decided to take yesterday off at the Gridiron Uniform Database blog. It was just as well, as there were no Super Bowls ever played on January 23, however there was one memorable NFC Championship game that we'd like to "flash-back" to.

On January 23, 2000, twelve years ago, the Greatest Show on Turf almost met their match, as the high-flying offense led by Kurt Warner and Marshall Faulk were trailing the defensively-minded Tampa Bay Buccaneers 6-5 late in the game.  Would a great defense hold off a great offense and make it to Super Bowl XXXIV?  Well they almost did, but Warner hit Ricky Proehl with a 30-yard touchdown pass with 4:44 left and the Rams were on their way to the Super Bowl in Atlanta and the record books.

We are happy to add this game to our database as well.

~ ~ ~

Congratulations to the Giants and the Patriots for making it to Super Bowl XLVI, and we'll be back tomorrow with a special guest entry as we look back at the Giants' first Super Bowl Championship twenty-five years ago.

Super Bowl XIX

 

Super Bowl XIX

by Rob Holecko

Twenty-seven years ago today, on January 20, 1985, the San Francisco 49ers defeated the Miami Dolphins in Super Bowl XIX 38 to 16.  It was Joe Montana and the 49ers' second Super Bowl in four years, and it was a very memorable game.  It was played in Stanford, California, the closest a team has ever come to playing a Super Bowl in it's home stadium.  It was the first Super Bowl televised by ABC.  President Ronald Reagan, on the day of the inauguration of his second term in office, conducted the coin flip from the Oval Office.

As for the game itself, from Wikipedia:

Instead of the predicted shootout between Dan Marino and Joe Montana, the game was mostly one-sided. The 49ers defense only allowed 25 rushing yards and 16 Dolphins points. San Francisco also intercepted Marino 2 times and sacked him 4 times. The Dolphins set a Super Bowl record for least rush attempts in a game (9).

But in the opening minutes of the game, it seemed that the game would live up to the hype. On the opening kickoff, 49ers rookie kick returner Derrick Harmon caught the ball too close to the sidelines and stepped out of bounds at the San Francisco 6-yard line. The 49ers managed to advance to the 41-yard line but were forced to punt, and Dolphins defensive back Fulton Walker returned the punt 9 yards to the Miami 36-yard line. Then on their first play of the drive, Marino completed a 25-yard pass to Tony Nathan. Five plays later, Miami reached the San Francisco 23-yard line. But on third down, 49ers cornerback Eric Wright tackled wide receiver Mark Clayton 2 yards shy of the first down. Miami had to settle for a 37-yard field goal from Uwe von Schamann.

The Dolphins' 3-0 lead did not last long, as the 49ers stormed down the field on their next possession. San Francisco drove 78 yards in 8 plays, culminating in a 33-yard touchdown pass from Montana to reserve running back Carl Monroe to give them a 7-3 lead. But Miami retook the lead on their ensuing drive. After a 5-yard rush by Nathan, the Dolphins went into a no-huddle offense, preventing the 49ers from making substitutions and keeping their run defense on the field. Marino completed five consecutive passes, hitting Clayton for 18 yards, Mark Duper for 11, Clayton again for 13, and tight end Dan Johnson for 21. On the next play, Marino finished the drive by hitting Johnson for a 2-yard touchdown pass, giving the Dolphins a 10-7 lead with 45 seconds left in the first quarter.

In the second quarter, the 49ers began to take control of the game. Bill Walsh switched to a 4-1-6 (or dime defense) to slow down Miami's passing attack, with Keena Turner as the sole linebacker. Miami tried to run against the 4-1-6 alignment, to no avail. Safety Dwight Hicks broke up two consecutive Marino passes, and the Dolphins were forced to punt from their own 10-yard line. Then after taking the ball at the Miami 47-yard line, Montana scrambled for a 19-yard run, and then completed a 16-yard pass to wide receiver Dwight Clark to reach the 12-yard line. From there, Wendell Tyler rushed for 4 yards, and then Montana threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to Roger Craig, giving the 49ers a 14-10 lead.

Miami then had to punt again on their ensuing possession, and San Francisco defensive back Dana McLemore returned the ball 28 yards to the 49ers' 45-yard line. After advancing 15 yards with 2 running plays, Montana completed a pair of passes to tight end Russ Francis to move the ball 29 yards to the Miami 11-yard line. Craig ran for 5 yards on the next play, and then Montana ran the final 6 yards to the end zone for a touchdown, making the score 21-10. After the ensuing kickoff, Miami again was forced to punt after 3 plays, and McLemore returned Reggie Roby's 39-yard punt 10 yards to the 49ers' 48-yard line. Montana was sacked for a 5-yard loss by Doug Betters on the first play of the ensuing drive, but he struck back with a 20-yard completion to Craig and a 7-yard run over the next two plays. On the next play, wide receiver Freddie Solomon caught a pass from Montana, took one step, and then lost the ball due to a hit from safety Lyle Blackwood. Blackwood quickly recovered the ball and took off for the 49ers end zone, but field judge Bob Lewis blew the play dead, ruling that Solomon's fumble was an incomplete pass. Bill Quinby, the side judge, who was nearest to the play, did not make any call. Five plays later, Craig finished the nine play, 52-yard drive with his second touchdown on a 2-yard run, increasing the 49ers lead to 28-10.

With about two minutes left in the half, the Dolphins finally managed to get a good drive going on their next possession. Marino completed 7 out of 9 passes, the last one being a 30-yard pass to tight end Joe Rose, to reach the 49ers 12-yard line. But San Francisco's defense tightened up on the next 3 plays, forcing 2 incompletions and a completed pass for no gain, and Miami was forced to settle for Von Schamann's second field goal of the game to cut their deficit to 28-13 with 12 seconds left in the half. Then Miami caught a break as the 49ers botched the ensuing kickoff. San Francisco lineman Guy McIntyre received Van Schamann's short kick and was about to down the ball, but then changed his mind at the last second and decided to return it. This turned out to be a big mistake. McIntyre lost a fumble while being leveled by rookie Joe Carter, and Jim Jensen recovered the ball for Miami at the 49ers 12-yard line. After that, Von Schamann kicked his third field goal on the last play of the half, cutting the score to 28-16. "I can laugh about the play now, but it wasn't funny at the time," McIntyre said after the game. "My first instinct when I got the ball was to fall down. Then I heard everyone yelling, 'Get up! Get up!' So I got up, and here comes someone sneaking underneath me, and he hit the ball."

But any thoughts of a Miami comeback ended early in the third quarter. On the first play second half, 49ers defensive end Dwaine Board tackled Nathan for a 1-yard loss. Then after Marino threw an incompletion, Board sacked him for a 9-yard loss on third down. For the fourth time in the game, Roby had to punt, and again McLemore gave the 49ers good field position with an 8-yard return to San Francisco's 47-yard line. The 49ers then drove 43 yards and scored on kicker Ray Wersching's 27 yard field goal. On the Dolphins' ensuing drive, they were forced to punt again after Marino was sacked twice (once by defensive lineman Manu Tuiasosopo and once by Board). Starting their own 30-yard line after a 5-yard return by McLemore, Montana completed a 40-yard pass to Tyler, followed up with a 14-yard completion to Francis. Three plays later, Craig scored his third touchdown on a 16-yard reception to make the score 38-16. The score proved to be the last one from either team, as the defenses of both teams took over for the rest of the game - especially the 49ers' defense, who intercepted Marino twice.

Overall, San Francisco gained a Super Bowl record 537 yards, breaking the Oakland Raiders record of 429 yards in Super Bowl XI, while limiting Miami to 314, with just 25 rushing yards. San Francisco's 38 points also tied a Super Bowl record set by the Raiders in Super Bowl XVIII.

The 49ers' 288 offensive yards in the first half also tied the Raiders in Super Bowl XI for the most offensive yards in a half during a Super Bowl.

Marino finished the game with 29 out of 50 pass completions for 318 yards, 1 touchdown, and 2 interceptions. Clayton was the top receiver of the game, with 6 receptions for 92 yards. Walker returned 4 kickoffs for 93 yards and gained 15 yards on 2 punt returns. Nathan was the Dolphins leading rusher with 18 yards, while also catching 10 passes for 83 yards.  Craig had 58 rushing yards, 77 receiving yards, and 3 touchdowns. He was the first player ever to score 3 touchdowns in a Super Bowl, and his 2 touchdown catches also tied a Super Bowl record. Tyler led San Francisco in rushing with 65 yards, and also caught 4 passes for 70 yards. Clark caught 6 passes for 77 yards. Board recorded 2 sacks. McLemore recorded 51 punt return yards, the second most in Super Bowl history.

We are proud to add this game to the Gridiron Uniform Database.  Also today we are launching a new page today, the index of Super Bowl Matchup graphics.  As we add Super Bowl matchups to the website today, you'll find all of them here, you'll see a new link on the front page.  We'd like to thank Mark Young, who a few months ago designed our new banner graphics, for putting together the roman numeral graphics on this page.

Also on this day, five years previous to Super Bowl XIX, the Rams and the Cowboys met in Super Bowl XIV.  This was the game that saw the Steelers put the cherry on the top of their 1970s dynasty, winning their fourth Super Bowl in six years.

~ ~ ~

Another On This Day... that we'd like to mention.  Yesterday was January 19, and while there has never been a Super Bowl on January 19, we would like to recognize a particularly memorable game from nine years ago.  As a Buccaneer fan, while I realize that the Super Bowl victory over the Raiders is definitely the crowning achievement of our franchise, it was Ronde Barber's interception return of a Donovan McNabb pass for a touchdown that clinched the NFC Championship against the Eagles, that was the moment from that season that was most memorable.  After having lost at Philadelphia in the playoffs the past two seasons, after having never won a game below forty degrees, to go into Philadelphia and win that game to go to the Super Bowl, was really the best moment ever for the Bucs in their 35 years of existence.

 

A Giant Victory

 

A couple days ago at the Gridiron Uniform Database, I mentioned an "easter egg" of sorts that I had left on the site as sort of a challenge for you to find.  No one found it the first day, but yesterday BigBlueLarry, aka Larry Schmitt, found the error.  I had typed 'Houston Oilers' instead of 'Houston Texans' on the Week 4 matchup page when I made it back in early October, and left it to see if anyone would notice.  No one ever did, so I decided to make a 'contest' of sorts the other day, and Larry is the winner.

I offered him the opportunity to feature a game of his choosing to be added to the database.  As a big Giants, I had a feeling he would choose a game featuring them.  I didn't let him pick any of the Super Bowls (XXI, XXV, XLII) as we will be covering all of the Super Bowls in coming days.  Larry picked wisely and selected the 1990 NFC Championship game, a great defensive struggle.  Here's Larry with his thoughts on this game:

~ ~ ~

A Giant Victory
by Larry Schmitt

This is truly the crown jewel of all the football games I've ever watched in my lifetime. I think it was the most tense, hard-hitting, dramatic, riveting game that I have ever seen the Giants play.  Sixty minutes of no quarter asked - none given. The 49ers' of that era have always been lauded for their prolific offense, but their defense was just as good. Micheal Carter anchored their DL at the nose position and gave Giants All-Pro Center Bart Oates all he could handle. The hits that Ronnie Lott dished out in his final game as a 49er were devastating. San Francisco and New York had a unique rivalry - it was as intense as any Giants-Redskins or 49ers-Rams game from that era.
 


This was their fifth post season meeting over the previous nine seasons, and their dislike for one another was only exceeded by their mutual respect. 2012 Pro Football HOF finalist Bill Parcells (who was at his gambling best with a fake punt call to Gary Reasons in the 4th quarter) has stated many times that this is the favorite game from his coaching career, and Jerry Markbreit stated it was the best game he ever officiated. NFL Films rated Leonard Marshall's 4th quarter sack of Joe Montana as the #2 tackle of all-time. Bill Belichick revealed himself as a defensive genius with his game-planning throughout the 1990 postseason. The Giants ended San Francisco's attempt for an unprecedented Super Bowl "Threepeat" without even scoring a touchdown! Remarkable! Other brilliant coaches on that Giants staff included Tom Coughlin, Romeo Crennel, Al Groh and Charlie Weis. San Francisco boasted the talents of Mike Holmgren, Jon Gruden and Ray Rhodes. 

Jeff Hostetler made clutch throws to Mark Bavaro, Mark Ingram and Stephen Baker to drive the Giants to hard fought field goals on late possessions.  An Erik Howard forced-fumble on Roger Craig (also playing his final game in San Francisco) that was recovered by Lawrence Taylor, set up a 42-yard Matt Bahr game winning field goal, and a thrilling 15 to 13 upset win. 

The Giants would go on to win Super Bowl XXV against the Buffalo Bills a week later.
 

NFL Films would be wise to include this contest in their "Best Ever" series.

Uniform wise, the game was standard for the time. The Giants wore their road white with blue numbers that had been standard issue since 1980 and wouldn't change through 1999. San Francisco wore their home red and gold uniforms that featured virtually the same look since 1964 and that they would keep through 1995, save for the removal of the stripes from the socks in 1991.

~ ~ ~
  

Thanks, Larry.  Great job, and a great game to add to our database.   With both the Giants and 49ers still in the playoffs, it's not an impossibility that would could be seeing a rematch of this game in this year's NFC Championship, however, the Packers and the Saints may have something to say about that.

We look forward to future opportunities to feature guest writers here at the Gridiron Uniform Database blog, so if you have any ideas for a game you'd like to see featured here, let us know.

  

~ ~ ~

   
After featuring Super Bowl XI yesterday, the earliest Super Bowl ever played on January 9, today there is no Super Bowl to feature for "On This Day...", as there never was a Super Bowl played on January 10.  There has, however, been two memorable playoff games through the years played on January 10, and we are featuring them today:

The game known simply as "The Catch" was thirty years ago today.  Dwight Clark hauled in Joe Montana's final minute pass for a touchdown in the NFC Championship and the 49ers defeated the Cowboys and went on to Detroit to beat the Bengals in Super Bowl XVI and begin their 1980's dynasty.

Twenty-two years later, a playoff game went into a second overtime for only the third time ever.  On the first play of the second overtime period, Steve Smith caught a 69-yard touchdown pass from Jake Delhomme, and the Panthers were headed to the NFC Championship game on their way to Super Bowl XXXVIII.  That pass was the longest overtime postseason play from scrimmage in NFL History, a record which stood until Sunday, when Tim Tebow's 80 yard pass to Demaryius Thomas broke the record.  The 2003 Panthers and the 2011 Broncos, of course, were both coached by John Fox.

An Exciting Ending

Well, school has started back up so I missed a day or two of our "On This Day..." but we are back today with an exciting playoff game from nine years ago.  The 49ers came back from a 24-point deficit and took a 39-38 lead, but the Giants had a last second field goal attempt to win the game.  Watch the end of the video to see how it turned out.  It was a bad call by a referee (who happened to be wearing glasses, by the way) that prevented the Giants from getting another shot -- the pass interference call should have stood, the ineligible man downfield shouldn't have ended the game, because the lineman who was interfered with was eligible, and the pass interference call on him should have been offsetting penalties, and the down should have been replayed.  The NFL later admitted the call was wrong.

Read a further write-up about the game here.

Digging Up More Dirt

September 19, 1971 San Francisco at Atlanta

     Yesterday here at The Gridiron Uniform Database, we were continuing our discussion of the pants that the 1964-69 San Francisco 49ers wore.  These pants were made of two separate materials, easily visible in this picture to the left.  (Okay, it's not so visible.)  But this picture was taken opening day 1971, against the Falcons.  We know they wore these definitely from 1964 to 1969, and some of the time, apparently, during both 1970 and 1971 seasons.
     In yesterday's article we were assuming that the pants were definitely worn through the first ten games of 1971, and then not after that point.  We based this on a picture showing John Brodie wearing the two-toned pants, which was from the Week 10 (11/21/71) game at Los Angeles.  We discussed yesterday how this was from the game between the two teams in Los Angeles, and not the earlier game in San Francisco.  But how did we know conclusively that the game was from 1971, and not from 1970?  Here's how Gridiron Uniform Database historian Tim Brulia explains it:

"While I am pretty certain that's a 1971 shot of Brodie and the Niners at L.A. and the shot clearly shows the Rams numerals as shiny (which they definitely were in 1971), there IS a possibility that it could be from 1970. The number fonts used by the Rams on the white jerseys were distinctly different in the two years. The number font used in '70 was very similar to what the Packers use today. The font used in '71 was not as blocky, nor was there a serif on the bottom of the 1's. Likewise the NOB's are cropped off of the pic. The NOB's on the Rams 1970 jerseys were immense. The NOB's on the '71 white were rather normal. Since I can't tell 100% the Rams number fonts nor the NOB font, I am going by the caption that was used with the USPresswire site of 11/21/71."

 Tim then followed up with even more confirmation:

"The Brodie vs LA pic is absolutely from 11/21/1971. The Ram in the pic is #85 Jack Youngblood. He was a rookie in 1971. In 1970, there was NO Ram who wore 85 per pro-football-reference.com."

Okay, so we know that on 11/21/1971 they were still wearing the two-toned pants.  Yesterday we also stated that they absolutely were not wearing the two-toned pants the following week against the Jets.  After analyzing that game again, available here on Hulu, we were more of the opinion that in the Jets game the pants were in fact (left) still the two-toned ones. (More pics from that game here.)  Although we seem to be in agreement that they probably were wearing the new pants for the season finale against the Lions, we aren't certain when they stopped wearing them.  We haven't been able to locate any pictures from the Dec. 6 Monday Night game against Kansas City or the December 12 game against Atlanta.  Or perhaps we're wrong about the Detroit game, maybe they were wearing the two-toned pants for the entire 1971 season, as our Bill Schaefer points out:

The pic from the Lions game (12/19/71)

     I'm looking at the 2 Niners pics (vs Jets & vs Lions) and I think you could legitimately argue that they are both wearing the 2-tone pants.

     In the Jets picture, the Niner laying on the ground definitely has darker material on his hamstring than on his thigh. One would think the surface exposed to the light would be brighter. I think this is definitely the 2-tones working here.

     Now, the Lions pic (right), I could easily get convinced either way. The runner's hammy is darker than his thigh but his 'butt' appears to be the same shade of khaki as his thigh.  Due to the blurry quality of the pic I'd have to go 'inconclusive.'

     But perhaps it wasn't a case of them simply wearing one set of pants until a specific game and then switching to the other.  Maybe they did go "back-and-forth", as Tom, who left a comment on yesterday's entry suggests:

"I wonder if the Brodie vs. Rams photo is a case of the Niners using more lightweight pants because they were playing in L.A. The circa 1968-73 period does have the occasional team wearing a presumably lightweight jersey with no sleeve stripes to beat the heat -- examples that come to mind are the Lions in the '68 opener at Dallas, the 49ers (and surely other teams) at the Dolphins in the '73 opener, the Vikings in a purple jersey with no sleeves early in the '70 season. Maybe the 49ers' shiny pants are a product of the same thinking."

This picture is from Week 7
1970 vs Green Bay -- are these the
two-toned pants or not?

     So there it is.  They definitely wore the two-toned pants from 1964 to 1969, and they also wore them some of the time in 1970 and 1971.  The hardest part of this research is that it isn't always clear, even in color pictures, which pants the players are wearing.  I'd say we still have someways to go to determine exactly which games during those two years were played in which pants.

~ ~ ~

     To those of you who have been following along, tomorrow is our official website launch.  We've been trying to get everything ready, but like we said before this website will remain an on-going project, and it will never completely be done.  There shouldn't be any broken links, and we have all of the team yearly graphics in.  You can click on either teams on the right or years on the left and see every NFL (and AFL and AAFC) uniform since 1933.  We will slowly be adding each team's game-by-game head to head matchup page, beginning with the 2010 teams.  We had hoped to have all of the 2010 team season pages done by tomorrow, but that simply won't be possible.  The Steelers and Packers were already in, and on Friday we added the Bears, Vikings and Lions 2010 team pages to complete the NFC North, and we will be rolling out other teams in the coming days.

~ ~ ~

     Database Corrections.  Like yesterday's minor adjustment to the 1967 Broncos of depicting the preseason only variations on the bottom of the graphic, rather than the top, we found others that required that adjustment as well, the 1960 Patriots (previous), the 1969 and 1970 Jets ('69, '70 previous) and the 1970 Dolphins (previous).  Another minor change, the 1993 Buccaneers sleeve patch honoring the passing of Bucs' owner Hugh Culverhouse, was only depicted in detail in the white version, and we have added the detail to both versions.  

     Culverhouse was so disliked that they honored his death the year before he died.  Just kidding, although he did die in 1994, the patch was merely to commemorate his life.  He had lung cancer and I guess they just wanted to say thanks for all the years of wonderful team ownership...like not paying Doug Williams money to stay in 1983 and being such a general all-around cheapskate that the Bucs, when they honored Culverhouse with the sleeve patch, were completing their eleventh of fourteen straight losing seasons.   As Joy Culverhouse, his widow, said during the ugly legal fight with trustees for control of his estate when Culverhouse's many extramarital affairs were revealed: "I'd like to dig him up just so I could shoot him."

When Did The Pants Change?

     Yesterday, our first commenter, Tom, alerted us that this John Brodie picture that we ran on Wednesday couldn't have been from the 10/10/1971 Rams-49ers game in San Francisco, because the 49ers moved from Kezar Stadium into Candlestick Park in 1971, which was Astroturf.   (This guy seems to suggest that turf wasn't at Candlestick until 1972, but apparently changes were made to the base cutouts that year.)  Tim assures us the picture was from not earlier than 1971, as the Rams "shiny" front numeral wasn't used until that year.
     This was entirely my mistake, had I looked at Tim's White At Home in the NFL project, I would have seen that in 1971 the Los Angeles Rams did wear white at home, and this picture was actually from the teams' second meeting that year, 11/21/1971, at the Coliseum in Los Angeles.
     So when exactly did the 49ers switch from the two-toned pants to the new style?  Pictures from the week after this game, the 11/28/1971 game at Shea Stadium against the Jets, indicate that they were wearing the new pants in that game, and they were still wearing them the next month when they faced the Lions at home (on the Candlestick astroturf) in the season finale on December 19.
     Assuming then that they didn't "switch back and forth" (and also assuming that Tim is correct about the Rams' numerals, which we have no reason to believe isn't true) then that first picture, (from 11/21/71 vs the Rams) would be the last time they wore those pants.

12/19/71 vs Detroit

11/28/1971 at NY Jets

     The only missing piece, then, would be to confirm that they did in fact wear the "old" pants during other games during the first nine weeks of 1971, and not just as a one-time effort for the Rams game for some unknown reason.
     Thank you Tom, for being our first commentor, and we hope you stay around here at The Gridiron Uniform Database and continue to contribute to the discussions and fact-check us when we need correcting, and we'll look for you in the forum.

~ ~ ~

     Thursday was a big day here at the GridironUniforms.com.  We completed entering all of the yearly index pages, if you'll look over to the left where it starts at 2011 and goes down to 1920, you can click on any of the years from 1933 to 2010 and see the uniforms from that year.  With those yearly pages on the left and the team pages on the right, the "meat" of our website is now on-line.  We hope to have most of the 2010 team pages in by Sunday, our official launch, however, all the team graphics, at least are complete, and our website is pretty much "good to go."

     Another feature we launched yesterday, we are now on Twitter.  Now you can get tweets to let you know when updates have been made to the database, as well as when riveting articles like this one have been posted.  You''ll see to the right a badge where you can sign up to follow us, and down at the bottom of this page a twitter widget that displays our recent tweets.  Just follow us @GridironUniform. (Yes, it's singular.  Apparently twitter only allows 14 characters in a twitter name.)

~ ~ ~

     Database Changes.  The 1940 Chicago Bears have been "tweaked" again.  If it seems like it was just yesterday that we changed these uniforms, it's because it was.  Now another change:  We decided the socks (which they actually did wear during the regular season) should be orange and not white.  We were continuing to study the size (no, not the color) of the Bronco on the 1962-66 Denver helmet, and feel that at 90% of the size that we previously had it made it more accurate (new 1964, old 1964), and also made a clerical change with the 1967 Broncos in that we are now depicting the "preseason only" uniforms below the regular season, rather than above, as we have done in other cases.

~ ~ ~

     Well, now it's off to work on the 2010 team pages.  Since we have already done the Packers and Steelers, we'll probably try to knock out the rest of the NFC North & AFC North first, and then tackle the other divisions.