Week 16 Weekly Uniform Rankings

We at the Gridiron Uniform Database hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas and we all would like to take this opportunity to wish all of you a very Happy 2013!

#16. Raiders-Panthers: OAK in white/silver, CAR in black/silver. If it weren't for the touch of blue on the Panthers, this would resemble an inter-squad game. As such, this is a bit of a dullard for me. This is one of the more lackluster matchups for the season, sorry to say.

#15. Patriots-Jaguars: NE in white/silver, JAX in black/black. The Jaguars miss a beautiful opportunity when they switched to the all black look. This game would have been a real good matchup. But then...well, never mind. Sorry, Pats. You deserve better.

#14. Giants-Ravens: NYG in white/gray, BAL in alternate black/black. It took the Ravens until Week 16 to bust out the all black uni. Wish it would have been until Week 36. I'm not a fan of all black. Much prefer purple/black for the Ravens. Working against the Giants white and gray with red as the dominant trim color, it was a missed opportunity. 

#13. Bills-Dolphins: BUF in blue/white, MIA in white/white. Lots of white, one jersey, two helmets, two sets of pants. So with that in mind, we have to look at the trim colors. And they do help out. A bit. orange, red, aqua, blue does provide a good mix of secondary colors to the white's utter dominance here.

#12. Chargers-Jets: SD in white/navy, NYJ in green/white. Good looking game, not great. Could have stood to see the Jets in all green, but after being shamed by the Patriots on Thanksgiving night in that get-up, maybe the Jets thought it a good idea to park that combo.

#11. Colts-Chiefs: IND in white/white, KC in red/white. Colts in the staid but true all white with all blue trim and the Chiefs in the staid but true red jerseys and white pants. No surprises, but there doesn't have to be here. 

#10. Falcons-Lions: ATL in white/white, DET in honolulu blue/silver. Falcons in the blah all white combo, but that is offset by the Lions eternally smooth shade of blue and the silver with the hint of black. Falcons red trim does do this one a little bit of justice.

#9. Bears-Cardinals: CHI in white/navy, ARZ in red/white. Decades ago, these two were crosstown rivals. These colors hearken back to those long ago days. Very bright matchup, with the navy, red, white, and tastes of orange and black. 

#8. Bengals-Steelers: CIN in white/black, PIT in black/yellow. A lot of black to be sure, but the orange and yellow make up for that some. If the Bengals would have rocked their orange socks here, that would have really perked this one up.

#7. Browns-Broncos:  CLE in white/white, DEN in orange/white. Did you ever think I'd say something like "too much orange??" Well, there is plenty of it here. But really, I'm not complaining. Brown and dark blue act as trim colors and it's refreshing to see a very unusual combo of trim colors supplementing orange as a dominant color. 

#6. Titans-Packers: TEN in white/light blue, GB in green/yellow. This is actually a rather a jarring matchup. A very modern-like look in the Titans various shades of blue against a very traditional Packer uniform. As such, it's a beauty.

#5. Saints-Cowboys: NO in black/gold, DAL in white/mint. After 11 straight games in the black pants, the Saints revert to the gold pants. It works well here. Metallic colors work well, even if they don't align properly on their own teams. Good job, guys.

#4. Redskins-Eagles: WSH in white/yellow. PHI in green/white. You gotta give the NFC East bunch some credit. They have a load of diverse colors. With this game, it means that the Redskins will have shelved the burgundy pants for the entire 2012 season. And here, that isn't really a bad thing at all. Eagles green plays well on the Redskins garb.

#3. Vikings-Texans: MIN in all white, HOU in dark blue/white. This is a rather nice array of color. Purple, yellow, blue, red. A nice spectrum, even if conservatively used.

#2. 49ers-Seahawks: SF in white/gold, SEA in navy/navy. A traditional/contemporary matchup. The Seahawks feature one of the better dark/dark looks in the NFL and going against the gold shades of the Niners with the bright red trim on the white jersey, this is very much an eye pleaser.

#1. Rams-Buccaneers: STL in white/dark blue. TB in red/pewter. This is a sweet one. Just one instance of white, the Rams' jerseys. Then you have red, blue, pewter. And a little gold and a little black. A good mixture of color. Thumbs up!

Week 15 Weekly Uniform Rankings

For the first time in a couple of seasons, we have a color vs color matchup. We also have a second week of the wearin' of the Hall of Fame 50th Anniversary patches.

On the whole, I happen to think this week was - top to bottom - perhaps the best one of the season. 

#16) Jaguars-Dolphins: JAX in black/white, MIA in mono white. Had the Jags went all black, this might have been the thumbs down matchup of the season. But they salvage a little something with the white britches, which gives this matchup a flicker of life. Just a flicker.

#15) Buccaneers-Saints: TB in white/pewter, NO in all black. Hmph. No TB white pants, again. Tsk. No NO gold pants, again. So this was - in a sense - predictable. If one change could have brought this one to the fold, it would have been the Saints in gold pants. That would have been an awesome play of the mteals at work. No gold, no go to this matchup.

#14) Panthers-Chargers: CAR in all white, SD in navy/white. Just not feeling love for this one. Not sure why. They are good uniforms on their own, but together, it doesn't mesh. The Panthers in all white and baby blue socks, the Chargers in navy with white pants aand navy socks. Put 'em together and it adds up to meh.

#13) Broncos-Ravens: DEN in all white, BAL in purple/white. Ravens should have gone purple/black in this one. Would have given this matchup a little life. Instead, we have a bounty of white that relegates some vibrant colors like gold and orange to a trim status. But one question: Why no HOF patch on the Ravens' jerseys??

#12) Vikings-Rams: MIN in white/white, STL in blue/blue. Rams have gone all season wearing blue pants with blue jerseys. I find that just a little peculiar. But it does work in this one, against the Vikes in white. Gold and yellow as supporting trim colors.

#11) Colts-Texans: IND in white/white, HOU in navy/white. Colts in that oh so white look, with the Texans in modern navy with a hint of red trim. For whatever reason, this is a pleasant look to me, when I think early this season, I would have said, "yuck."

#10) Bengals-Eagles: CIN in white/black, PHI in green/white. The season's last Thursday nighter features some - but not a lot - of color. Some green, orange and a good bit of black. Glad the Bengals broke out the black pants. Made this a very good matchup.

#9) Giants-Falcons: NYG in white/gray, ATL in red/white. A lot of red, but a lot to like. Red is used very nicely here. The right amount of blue and black, as helmet colors. Sweet pairings at work.

#8) Steelers-Cowboys: PIT in black/yellow, DAL in white/mint. Ahh, Steelers-Cowboys, three Super Bowls were played with these two in almost exactly the same look. It does hold up well. The colors evoke titan epic battles, with some sweet colors. A winner, then and now.

#7) 49ers-Patriots: SF in white/gold, NE in navy/silver. Metallurgy at work. Gold and silver, or as Burl Ives sang it a long time ago, "Silver and Gold." Plus the red trin on the Niners and the predominant navy of the Patriots. One of a number of good matchups this week.

#6) Chiefs-Raiders: KC in white/red, OAK in black/silver. This uni matchup goes back decades, and it's just as good as ever. This is a prime example of when good looks come together, they become even better. No, not the glory days of this rivalry (definitely not!), but still it looks mighty fine.

#5) Jets-Titans: NYJ in white/green, TEN in two-tone blue. Oddish pairing of color, but a boss one. The green pants worn by the Jets really pumps this one. I think this is my favorite uni combo worn by the Jets and against the columbia/navy of the Titans, it's a spot on fit.

#4) Lions-Cardinals: DET in white/silver, ARZ in red/white. OK, I am over my snit about the Cardinals shelving the red pants for 2012. And so, without pretense, this is actually a pretty fair matchup. The cardinal red goes smoothly up against the silver and honolulu blue. And, yes, the white pants work better than the red pants would have.

#3) Seahawks-Bills: SEA in gray/gray, BUF in blue/white. Played in Toronto, this game features the first time for the Seahawks in the "wolf" gray jerseys going against the Bills in that vibrant blue jersey. I happen to like it. A good shade of gray, that wolf. This works great against the Bills with the blue and just the right amount of red, as well as they green and navy trim of the Seahawks. Thumbs up, eh?

#2) Redskins-Browns: WSH in white/yellow, CLE in brown/white. Biy, do these two bring out the best in each other's looks. The color is great. Burgundy, yellow, orange, brown. Late autumn in all its brilliance. One of the better ones for Week 15.

#1) Packers-Bears: GB in white/yellow, CHI in throwback navy/white. Sweet! Y'know, when the Bears really did wear this gear, the Packers usually also wore navy jerseys as well! But that's ancient history. The Bears throwbacks work well and they remove the "C" from the helmet to give it more...old-timiness. Packers in one of the nicest white jerseys there is. Great matchup.

Week 10 Weekly Uniform Rankings

One word for this week's pairings: Bor-ing.

We had a total of 12 teams in the monochrome look. Four in an all-dark look and an amazing eight teams wearing all whites. It made for a rather disappointing week of uniform pairings. Anyway, let's get on with the review.

#14. Colts-Jaguars: IND in all white, JAX in all black. If you are old like me, you might recall a big hit that the band Three Dog Night had in 1972 with "Black & White." Very similar scenario here. Indy in white helmets, white jerseys, white pants. At least they wore blue socks. For the Jags, it was black from head to toe. A yawner.

#13. Falcons-Saints: ATL in all white, NO in all black. The Falcons in the all white, which I do not find anywhere near as appealing as the sweet red jerseys, and the Saints, in a look I normally prefer, the all blacks, but not this week. The gold pants would have helped a lot in what turned out to be a rather dismal week, uni-wise.

#12. Chiefs-Steelers: KC in all white, PIT in black/yellow. Hoping against hope that the Chiefs would buck the all white trend for the week and stay with the brilliant white/red combo. But alas, the white conspiracy continued with the Chiefs - wearing my least favorite all white combo of all - against the Steeler standard of black/yellow. Ugh. Chiefs, if you're going to go all white, at least wear your handsome red socks! This is just too much vanilla for my taste. Steelers, what can I say?

#11. Bills-Patriots: BUF in all white, NE in navy/silver. Not sure if I would have preferred the Bills in blue pants or not. With all of the other all white combos, I do think the blue pants would have been, all right! Pats in the normal navy/silver combo. That saved the day.

#10. Titans-Dolphins: TEN in lightblue/dark blue, MIA in all white. Loads of shades of blue present here, with the columbia and navy blues of the Titans and the aqua tones of the Dolphins. A healthy present of white as well with the helmets and all of that Dolphin white. I'll take it, but not by much.

#9. Jets-Seahawks: NYJ in all white, SEA in all navy. Yeah, the honeymoon with the Seahawks new threads comes to an end. The all white and all dark, one of four games in a similar matchup, just takes its toll on me this week. Would have been great if the Jets had rocked their green pants and/or the Seahawks had trotted the new gray pants. Oh well.

#8. Rams-49ers: STL in all white, SF in red/gold. Yet another all white look, but saved by the Niners in their bright scarlet red and gold. Here's one game where the blue pants would have jumped the ranking a notch or more, but the blue and gold act as a good compliment to those brilliant reds. No matching ties with this encounter.

#7. Raiders-Ravens: OAK in white/silver, BAL in purple/white. A lot of color, even if much of it is muted (silver, black, purple, white and a touch of gold), it is - for this week - better than average. There are days when I like the Ravens in purple/black and there are days when I like the Ravens in purple/white. Today, I like the purple/white. It goes better this week and I think it works better with the Raiders standard white/silver fare.

#6. Texans-Bears: HOU in white/navy, CHI in navy/white. A lot of navy and a lot of white, and just not quite enough orange and red. Since these two teams on their own have greater than average looks, I do give it a (slightly) greater than average ranking.

#5. Chargers-Buccaneers:. SD in white/navy, TB in red/pewter. The Bucs get away from the early season WAH's and settle into the cozy red and pewter homes. Chargers add the compliment with the white jersey-navy pants combo. A pleasant sight to the eyes.

#4. Cowboys-Eagles: DAL in white/mint, PHI in green/white. Familiar teams, familiar unis. And compared with the rest of the NFL matchups this week, familiar is good. Very good. Contrasting jersey/pants combo makes for a soothing Sunday night.

#3. Lions-Vikings: DET in white/silver, MIN in purple/white. Normally a rather routine matchup. But in a week of white-white and dark-dark, this is an above the fray type of matchup. Good colors, good trim. honolulu blue, silver, purple, hints of black and yellow. Score one for the old guard.

#2. Broncos-Panthers: DEN in all white, CAR in all black. Oh Lord, another all white against all bla....wait a minute! What??? The Panthers rocking ALL BLACK? What?? They also are wearing the carolina blue socks??? Never before! Yay-yuh!! I grant this game a massive pardon and bestow blessings on this matchup. I think this one caught everyone off guard, because the Panthers rarely go outside of the box. But in a week of monotone, this one sticks out like a sore, nay two sore thumbs. And both thumbs point skyward in approval.

#1. Giants-Bengals: NYG in white/gray, CIN in black/white. This is a bounty of color. blue helmet, orange helmet, white jersey, black jersey, gray pants, white pants, red socks, black socks. A delicious palette of colors. Ace matchup.

OK fans, Hopefully my uniform grouchiness will fade with the Week 11 matchups! Guys, all I'm asking for is a little bit more color!

See you then!

Week 6 Uniform Matchup Rankings

In a minute, the Week 6 rankings.  But first, here is Rob to tell you a bit about things going on here at The Gridiron Uniform Database.

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Thanks, Tim.  First I want to publicly recognize here in the blog your appearance on the Leatherheads of the Gridiron's podcast, "Gridiron Greats."  Tim (who was introduced as the "owner" of our site) did us proud in an almost 45-minute interview where he talked with hosts Bob Swick and Joe Squires about our site and other interesting stuff like his collection of Super Bowl game programs.  (He has every one)  The show is geared towards memorabilia and collecting, but it was an interesting discussion none-the-less.

You can download the mp3 of the appearance here.

Another thing I wanted to mention, in sending me the commentator listings for this week from his research over there at The506, (where Tim is one of the curators of all of the historical announcer information that you see here on our site), Tim also included the game announcers from NFL games played 50 Years Ago this week in 1962.  (I swear, we're not trying to steal a similar idea from someone over at that other site.)

As you all know, while we like to think that we have already included a quite impressive amount of information of pro football uniforms from 1920 to the present, we have easily 80% of the task still to go.  A lot of the time-consuming entry of weekly and matchup pages is simply just going to take a lot of time.  So we are going to continue to try making headway towards our ultimate goal of completeness by adding the 1962 season, beginning with the current week 50 years ago, and working forwards and backwards from that point.

This week, I have added 1962 Week 6 (and AFL Week 7), and next week, we'll shoot for adding Weeks 5 and 7, and continue to build from there.  Also, if you go to the 1962 season page, you'll now see links to the weekly pages, and we will be adding these to the other years in coming days as well.  I know there are a lot of older matchup pages that I have added to the database, but frankly, there is no easy way to see how they are indexed and which ones are included, so I will be adding these 'weekly indexes' at the top of all of the year index pages in coming months.

Now back to Tim with the Weekly Uniform Rankings.

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#14. Colts-Jets: IND in all white, NYJ in green/white. The safe way to go for the Jets. I would have preferred the Jets in a green/green get-up. So, this then becomes a rather mediocre matchup. Plenty of white, if you like that.

#13. Bengals-Browns: CIN in black/white and CLE in all white. Back in week 2, these two played each other with the Bengals doing a rare turn of white at home (WAH), forcing the Browns to wear brown jerseys for the first time in the regular season since 2010. This time, the Browns return the favor. Lots of orange and the Bengals play it conservative with the white pants instead of black pants. It's OK.

#12. Rams-Dolphins: STL in all blue, MIA in all white. Mono a mono from head to calf. It's a so-so look. Were the Rams to go blue/gold and the Dolphins to go white/aqua, OMG...But alas. Still some good color here, blue, gold, aqua, orange. Just not enough of it here.

#11. Patriots-Seahawks: NE in white/navy, SEA in all navy. While I have bought into the Seahawks new sweetness, it doesn't work against the Patriots standard white/navy away combo. Seattle could have busted out gray pants, and that would have helped. Just too much navy leaves me blue.


10) Bills-Cardinals: BUF in white/blue, ARZ in black/white. WHA...? Bills in BLUE pants?? Yay-yuh! Oh yeah! Woo-hoo! This is the bes...oh wait, Cardinals in black jerseys instead of red??? Um...never mind. Next, please.

#9. Lions-Eagles: DET in white/silver, PHI in green/white. This looks a little too much like a Cowboys-Eagles matchup, with the Eagles fanbase normally in venom mode. With the Lions in town instead, I think this game would have been better served for all involved if the Eagles would've gone WAH to force the Lions to rock honolulu blue. Good, not great.¹

#8. Cowboys-Ravens: DAL in white/mint, BAL in purple/black. Cowboys in the normal mode with the Ravens again rocking the purple and black. Yup, I like it. When the Ravens brought the NFL back to Baltimore in 1996, this was what they wore at home. They have resumed this look in recent years and I think it fit the team image to a "B". Blends well with the Cowboy gear.

#7. Vikings-Redskins: MIN in all white, WSH in burgundy/yellow. This one works. Vikes in the standard purple trimmed whites and the Redskins continue to spread good cheer with the burgundy-yellows. A very nice look here.

#6. Steelers-Titans:  PIT in white/yellow and TEN in columbia blue/navy blue. Nice color contrasts here. Black, yellow, and two shades of blue. Both teams in three separate colors for the helmet, jersey and pants. May not be the best matchup, but an upper echelon one for sure.

#5. Giants-49ers: NYG in white/gray, SF in red/gold. Nice load of reds in this one. Could have been a pinch more blue here, but the red is nice and blended with good doses of blue, gray and gold. This is traditional and traditionally good.

#4. Raiders-Falcons: OAK in white/silver², ATL in red/white. Really gave the bum rush to the Falcons last week, but this week is much nicer with the Falcs in the red, and it's a good contrast against the rather muted Raider aways. Dig it.

#3. Packers-Texans: GB in white/yellow, HOU in dark blue/white. A better than average matchup. No surprises and none needed. A good blend of good colors, white, green, yellow, dark blue and good ol' battle red. Certainly goes in the win column.

#2. Chiefs-Buccaneers: KC goes red/white, TB goes white/pewter. Nicely done. Bucs shun the white/white for a better look with pewter pants³, and bounces well off the Chiefs red and white tradition. An above average matchup.

#1. Broncos-Chargers: DEN in all white, SD in powder blue/white. One of those games where the team that wears a very popular (and justly so) alternate that will ratchet up the matchup no matter what the other team looks like. This is certainly the case when the Chargers - all too rarely - break out the powders. The Broncos are the opponent and are wearing the navy based whites with the touch of orange.

Back next week. Till then, Peace Out.⁴

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¹- Could have been worse, they could have dressed like this.
²- Whenever I see Oakland in road unis in a dome, I think of this game.
³- Like all of the Weekly Rankings, the opinions issued in the Weekly Rankings are only those of Tim Brulia, and not necessarily in agreement with everyone's opinion at the GUD. I (Rob) happen to prefer my Bucs in white pants and hate the pewter pants. The white/white is fine, but I happen to think their best look is the red/white, which they seldom wear. Still he put the Bucs at #2. Also, I would have had the Bills-Cardinals much higher. Even with the Cardinals' BFBS (which I actually don't think is that bad (gasp!), the debut of the Bills' blue pants would have easily been Top 5 and probably #1 for me.
⁴- What's with the footnotes? I don't know, maybe I've been reading too much Bill Simmons lately.

Week 3 Uniform Matchup Rankings

Time to review what was worn for Week 3 by the 32 teams of the National Football League.

#16. Jets-Dolphins: Jets in green/white. Dolphins in white/white. All I'll say about this one is a heckuva lot of white. A very blah look for a very blah game.

#15. Chiefs-Saints: KC in red/white and NO in white/washed out gold. Probably would have been better if the Saints could have sported black pants, but this is what we get. Not bad, really, but not one of my favorites.

#14. Jaguars-Colts: Jags in white/white. Colts in blue/white. Not much to report here. Jax with the all white look, the Colts in the familiar blue jerseys. I don't know what could have been done to spice this one up.

#13. Falcons-Chargers: Falcons in red/white, Chargers in white/white. OK, this look on the Bolts was good last week, bit this week, not so much. Chargers would have looked much better with the navy pants that would have offset the red and white of the Falcons. But not to be. So, down it goes.

#12. Eagles-Cardinals: Birds of a feather. Eagles in white/green and Cardinals in black/white. Big Red goes the blackbirds route with the black alternate. Not sure I understand why the Cardinals use this alternate, but there it is. And it really doesn't go that badly with the Eagles as opponents, but frankly, the red would have gone a lot better.

#11. 49ers-Vikings: Niners in white/gold and the Vikings in purple/white. This is a nice matchup. The Vikes in purple just looks right and the Niners keeping it conservative with dashes of the brilliant red. Eye appealing.

#10. Rams-Bears: Rams in white/blue with the Bears in navy/white. I like me some dark pants and the Rams do just that. But if they still had and wore their gold pants, this might be one of the better matchups for the week. Still it's way better than an all-white look. Bears always look good in navy.

#9. Patriots-Ravens: NE in white/navy, BAL in purple/white. Was some talk of the Ravens in all black, but that didn't happen and that's a good thing. With the Ravens in white pants, it blends well with the Pats' color scheme. Well done.

#8. Lions-Titans: Lions in Honolulu Blue/silver and Tennessee in white/Columbia blue. This game gives me the blues (ha ha), Lions in Honolulu and Titans in Columbia and Navy. So if you like a lotta blue, this will fill your need. And I happen to like blue. So this will go up a few pegs on the TimmyB'ometer.

#7. Packers-Seahawks: The game that ended in a furor. Pack in white/green, Hawks in navy/navy. Maybe it would have been nice to see the Seahawks in white pants, but I really like this look and it pairs off well with the Packers in the white and yellow. No controversy from this end!
 

#6. Steelers-Raiders: Steelers in white/yellow and Raiders in black/silver. It might be a lot of black, but it's genuine black. Such an expected matchup, but it stands the test of time. The silver and yellow bounce off the blackness very well.

#5. Texans-Broncos:  Houston in white/navy and Denver in orange/white. This is a nice mtachup, and the main reason is that the Broncos look so right in their orange jerseys. Still grumpy that the Texans wear their navy socks instead of the reds that they put on the shelf several years ago. But this is a goody.

#4. Bills-Browns: Bills in blue/white and the Browns in white/white. The battle of Lake Erie. Or the battle of I-90. Whatever. I just love this Bills uni. And it pairs off nicely with the orange and brown trim on the Browns.

#3. Giants-Panthers: Giants in white/gray and the Panthers in Carolina blue/silver. Always joyful when the Panthers wear the Carolina blue jerseys. I always put their matchups up a few notches when they are in action. No exception here. Just looks so much better than the blacks.

#2. Buccaneers-Cowboys: Bucs in red/pewter and Cowboys in white/mint. Always have like the Bucs' red jerseys and the white pants make the whole combo pop. Alas, the pants stay pewter as the Cowboys stay in traditional home white. Still, it works.

#1. Bengals-Redskins: Bengals in white/black and Redskins in burgundy/yellow. Aaah, this is so good. A load of color, orange, white, black, burgundy, yellow. Sorta autumn-like. A dang good matchup!!

2011 Divisional Playoff Rankings & 2011 Conference Championship Rankings

2011 Divisional Playoff Rankings & 2011 Conference Championship Rankings
by Tim Brulia

So, here we go to finish off the rankings and reviews of the 2011 season.

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The Divisional Playoffs:


Saints-49ers: The Saints go conservative with white/gold and the Niners in the only combo they could wear, red/gold. It's a gold rush for all with this matchup. Gold helmets, gold pants. The difference comes in the jerseys and socks. Saints with black socks and the 49ers in red socks. I would have liked the Saints to have gone with the black pants, but I can live with the gold pants. This game seemed to make the red jerseys seem a little brighter.

Broncos-Patriots: Another common knowledge uni matchup; Broncos in all white and the Patriots in the navy/silver look. A little too much navy for my blood. While it would have looked goofy, it would have turned heads if the Broncos would have worn the white pants with the orange side stripe. Would not have helped them in the game, but it might have caused a bit of buzz. The unis looked nice, but not enough to cause a pitter-patter in my uni heart.

Texans-Ravens: Tex in the white/navy and lo and behold, the Ravens rockin' the purple/black. As you, this Steelers backer cannot ever bring himself to cheer on the Ravens, but I know a good look when I see's it, no matter how I feel about the team. The Ravens in purple/black is as good a combo as there is in the NFL. Only qualm I have with it is maybe they should go with white striped socks when wearing these colors. The Texans, as I said before, have a very nice uniform, tailored for today's game. They just need to start wearing the red socks with this combo. That would have made this game perfect. As such, it was still quite nice.

Giants-Packers: Giants in the white/gray, Packers in the famous green/yellow. Traditional looks from classic franchises. And it's a marvel. Bright blue lids against sparkling yellow helmets. White jerseys with red trim versus gleaming green jerseys with white and yellow trim. Gray pants with thin red and blue stripes against bright yellow pants with green and white stripes. Red socks and green socks. A color feast, this was. And I will go for seconds.

Rankings:
1) Giants-Packers
2) Texans-Ravens
3) Saints-49ers
4) Broncos-Patriots

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The Conference Championships:

Ravens-Patriots: Ravens in white/black and the Super Bowl bound Patriots in navy/silver. You might be surprised at what I'm going to say, but this matchup would have been better if the Ravens would have gone all white. They would have stood out more and it would have offset the Pats look a bit better than the white/black combo. Pats in such familiar playoff garb, that I guess we take it for granted.

Giants-49ers: G-men in white/gray and the Niners in red/gold. No flash here, but a lot of red. Giants red played very well off the Packers green and yellow from the week before. Here, it just comes up short. Don't get me wrong, I do like the Niners unis. I love how bright the red comes across since the return to the classic look. But it's just a lot of scarlet in this matchup. But somehow, all the red makes the blue helmets look rather dandy. As well as the gold helmets.


I give the nod - by a nod - to the NFC title game over the AFC title game.  Now here's Rob with a look back at a couple more Super Bowls played on this day.

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"On This Day..."
by Rob Holecko

As a Buccaneer fan, I am sometimes guilty of perhaps mentioning them a little bit more often than the other teams.  Well, today is a day you cannot fault me for that, as it is the anniversary of the Bucs' Super Bowl win.  Nine years ago today the Bucs defeated the Oakland Raiders in Super Bowl XXXVII, and we are happy to add it to our database of head-to-head matchups.

There's another Super Bowl anniversary today, twenty-six years ago, the Chicago Bears completed their 18-1 season with a 46-10 win in Super Bowl XX against the New England Patriots.  They were one of the best single season teams in NFL History.  They went 15-1, their only loss being a Monday Night showdown in December on the road against the Miami Dolphins, a team playing to protect their franchise's legacy of having the only undefeated season thirteen years earlier.

The Bears had two shutouts in the playoffs, defeating the Giants 21-0, and the Rams 24-0 in the NFC Championship. During the season, the Bears were so confident they put out a video called the "Super Bowl Shuffle." Here is the complete video of the song. I didn't remember that there were so many verses to it.

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Thanks, Rob. Stay with us at the Gridiron Uniform Database. Tomorrow our Giants expert, guest blogger Larry Schmitt, will look back at Super Bowl XXV, and beginning Saturday, we'll start Super Bowl week with some interesting Super Bowl uniform trivia that we think you'll like!

Uniform Rankings - Wild Card Weekend Edition

Uniform Rankings - Wild Card Weekend Edition
by Tim Brulia

From 16 games to review down to four.

Here's the Wild Card Weekend review.

Bengals-Texans: Bengals go white/white and the Texans go navy/white. Teams tend to go conservative in the playoffs, uni-wise. Perhaps knowing that all games from hereon in go out to 100% of the nation. And maybe the reason we see the Bengals take the all white approach. This is a good color contrast, but I think it would have been nice if the Bengals rocked the black pants, but this was a nice one.

Lions-Saints: Lions in the only choice they could make, white/silver. The Saints could have taken the safe approach with black/gold, but they chose to be daring and chose the black/black fashion statement. And that gets a big thumbs up. Still a lot of metal (Lions silver and Saints gold), but not as conspicuous. I just found this matchup to be a winner.

Falcons-Giants: Nothing notable here, but while predictable and tame, the Falcons white/white and Giants blue/gray was sharp. Falcons with black and red trim and the G-men with the familiar red accessories to the blue and gray, give a pleasant color look.

Steelers-Broncos: Best for last, both in terms of exciting play and exciting uni colors. Steelers go with the normal road togs, white/yellow and the Broncos, who had gone all navy for four straight home games, went to the "safe" combo for the playoffs, navy/white, and it was the right choice. It brightened up the Bronco look and actually complimented the Steeler colors. Well played, team of Tebow.

So, the quartet rankings:

1) Steelers-Broncos
2) Lions-Saints
3) Bengals-Texans
4) Falcons-Giants

As for the Divisional Round?

I think the teams will stay on the low-key side. We'll find out this weekend and let you know what we think. Check in with you then!

Week 16 Uniform Rankings

Week 16 Uniform Rankings
by Tim Brulia

Reviewing Week 16 as the 2011 regular season is rapidly drawing to a close...

Texans-Colts: Texans in white/navy and the Colts in blue/white. Nothing special here. A blue-light special with a hint of red mixed in.

Raiders-Chiefs: A look that stands the test of time. Practically the same in 2011 as it was in 1971, 40 years ago. Raiders in white/silver and the Chiefs rock red/white. Nice colors, as you'd expect.

Jaguars-Titans: Jags go white/black and the Titans go columbia blue/navy blue. Titans apparently finding their formula after an era of mix and match. Thinking the Jags in all white might have brightened things up, but we haven't seen that combo since early in the season when they were in their white at home phase. Not a bad matchup.

Dolphins-Patriots: Dolphins work the white/aqua combo and the Patriots go with standard navy/silver. Decent colors at play here, aqua, navy, silver, white with touches of red and orange. A good matchup.

Cardinals-Bengals: Big Red in white/white and the B's in orange/white. After three straight home games in which the Cardinals went red/red, the Arizona lads go back to an all white look, while the Bengals take the field in alternate orange. A little bit of a twist, but I'm not feeling too fuzzy on this matchup.

Broncos-Bills: Broncs in all white and the Bills in blue/white. A bit more Bronco orange would have been nice, but that couldn't be done here. Still feeling the Bills 2011 blues in a good way, though.

Rams-Steelers: Rams in white/navy and the Steelers in black/yellow. Rams wore the best of the three pairs of pants in their closet (yellow throwbacks are not an option) against the Standard Steeler fare. Actually one of the better uni matchups.

Giants-Jets: Crosstown rivals in standard get ups; NYG in white/gray and NYJ in green/white. Very colorful matchup, believe it or not! Sparkling!

Vikings-Redskins: Vikes in all white and the Skins in burgundy/yellow. Leave it to the Redskins to make me look like a fool when I said last week in this space that the Skins tucked away their yellow trousers for the season! They brought 'em back for this week and they feed very nicely off the Vikes whites.

Buccaneers-Panthers: Bucs go with the white/pewter look with the Panthers in the black/silver. If the Cats could had gone with the carolina blue here, this would have been an ace matchup. It's still nice, but that would have set me off, positively speaking.

Browns-Ravens: Browns going for the full white for the 15th game in a row and the Ravens trot out the magnificent purple/black combo. As a Steeler fan, I'm not supposed to say anything good about either of these teams. But I cannot deny the uni goodness from this encounter, especially the dark birds' combo.

Chargers-Lions: Bolts in white/navy and the Lions in honolulu blue/silver. Hmph, this is really a nice matchup. I just like how this one is pulled off, and I really can't explain why!

Eagles-Cowboys: Birds in green/white and the Cowboys in standard white/silver-green-blue. Have seen this one many a time before and it always plays out well. Top 10 material as always.

49ers-Seahawks: SF in white/gold and Sea in all seahawk blue. The Seahawk blue look, always unique is starting to dull my senses a little. A spark of white pants might have changed my mind, but then again would that be too much white with the Niners white shirts?

Bears-Packers: Bears in white/navy and the Pack in green/yellow. Now you know this show of colors from the traditional rivals is always a peach to this reporter. These teams have great color schemes and they know how to use them. Well done!

Falcons-Saints: Falcs in all white and Saints in all black. I am a rare case, but the all-blacks of the Saints just works for me. I could stand to see just a tad more red on the Falcons, but this is good enough.


So they rank as follows (bottom to the top this week):

16) Jaguars-Titans
15) Texans-Colts
14) 49ers-Seahawks
13) Raiders-Chiefs
12) Broncos-Bills
11) Cardinals-Bengals
10) Buccaneers-Panthers
9) Rams-Steelers
8) Dolphins-Patriots
7) Falcons-Saints
6) Eagles-Cowboys
5) Vikings-Redskins
4) Chargers-Lions
3) Giants-Jets
2) Bears-Packers
1) Browns-Ravens

Catch ya next week with the final regular season installment!

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"On This Day..."
by Rob Holecko

Four years ago today, the New England Patriots were 15-0 heading into their regular season finale against the New York Giants.  The game was a Saturday Night NFL Network telecast, but with the game being of such significance, the league decided to simulcast it on CBS and NBC as well.  As the Wikipedia article describes it:

The NFL Network had exclusive rights to broadcast the Patriots-Giants game, and in the weeks before the game, the network increasingly promoted the game via television commercials on other stations. It was clear the game was one of the most anticipated of the season, and could therefore serve as an important promotion for the NFL Network, which had tried unsuccessfully over the previous year to expand its viewership by becoming included as an "extended basic service" on the major American cable TV providers such as Comcast and Time Warner.


Political pressure from the Northeast to make the game more widely viewable preceded the decision to simulcast the game on CBS and NBC. Arlen Specter, the Pennsylvania senator who was the Republican ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the Committee's head, wrote the league a letter threatening to reconsider the antitrust exemption currently enjoyed by the NFL under United States law. Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts had pressured the league and cable companies to settle their dispute so "no die-hard Pats fans will be shut out from watching their team take aim at football history."

In the end, 15.7 million viewers watched the game on CBS, 13.2 million on NBC, 4.5 million on the NFL Network, and 1.2 million on New York, Boston and Manchester, New Hampshire television stations.  The game was the most watched program on television since the 2007 Academy Awards and the most watched regular season NFL game in more than 12 years.

The Patriots won the thrilling game 38-35, and Tom Brady and Randy Moss set records for most touchdowns in a season (passing, Brady, 50 & receiving, Moss, 23) to cap off the first 16-0 undefeated season.  Although the Giants would win the game that really mattered, the rematch in Super Bowl XLII a few weeks later, the Patriots capped off the most successful regular season in league history in this game.

We are proud to add this game to our database.

Week 15 Uniform Rankings

Week 15 Uniform Rankings

by Tim Brulia

Week 15 and we start to separate the men from the boys, on the field and on the body (er, uniform wise!)

Jaguars-Falcons: Jag rock white/black and the Falcs go red/white. Lot of blackness here. Falcons red saves this from being total blah from my standpoint.

Cowboys-Buccaneers: Cowboys in the standard white/green-blue-silver and the Bucs go red-pewter. This may be just a bit of metallic color overload for me. I think had the Bucs worn the white pants here, it would have made the red jerseys pop a little more. But, this is not really all that bad.

Panthers-Texans: Panthers in the white-white get up and the Texans go with navy-white. A lot of white, but the Texans navy jerseys just look good and make this one a pretty good feature.

Redskins-Giants: OK, I accept that the Skins yellow pants are mothballed for 2011. And doing that, I can deal with this matchup well. Much more traditional and a heaping amount of color, with white, blue, burgundy and gray, trimmed with yellow and red. Soothing to the football eyes.

Dolphins-Bills: Dolphins in white/aqua, Bills in blue/white. White helmets aside, I'm not sure why, but whenever the Dolphins rock an aqua jersey or aqua pants, I get fired up. And the Bills in their very sharp blue jerseys, I find myself quite attracted to this matchup. Satisfaction.

Seahawks-Bears: Hawks in all white with the Bears in navy/white. For whatever reason, this matchup appeals to me. Normally I'd hanker for the Seahawks to go white/seahawk blue here, but not now. I'm quite pleased with this on field look.

Saints-Vikings: Saints go white/gold and the Vikes in standard purple/white. Another time where I might said, gee, I wish the Saints would've black pants here. But the gold works, with black as a nice accessory color. Vikes purple goes well with the color mixture. May not be one of the better uni matchups, but not a yucky one, either.

Bengals-Rams: Bengals go white/black and the Rams in their second time in throwback blue/yellow. Oh do I like this one. Color abounds. Orange, black, blue, yellow, white all come together in fine fashion. It's all good in my neighborhood.

Titans-Colts: Titans in white/columbia blue and the (winning!) Colts in blue/white. There once was an instrumental hit (when I was a kid, hundreds of years ago) called "Love Is Blue," and such is the case here. columbia (light) blue, royal blue, navy blue with a wisp of red on the Titans helmet logo. Somehow, this all comes together in fine form.

Packers-Chiefs: Packers in white/yellow with the Chiefs in red/white. A little seasonal as the Packers green trim goes up against Chiefs red. But a little heavy on the white and yellow for it to be truly Christmasy. Traditional looks by these two. But I'm to be Scroogeish and say it's not working for me today.

Lions-Raiders: Lions in white/silver, Raiders in black/silver. "Silver Bells" anyone? Silver helmets and silver pants for both squads. silver on both jerseys, too. Some contrast with the black and honolulu blue, but I'm not feeling it.

Patriots-Broncos: Pats in white/navy and for the third home game in a row, Broncs in all navy. Loads of navy here. Perhaps too much? Remember, while a home team has to let the NFL know by July 1st what color jersey they will wear, they don't have to tell anyone about what color pants they will wear. Perhaps the Broncs on their hot streak with the all blue decided to give one more shot.

Jets-Eagles: Jets in white/green, Eagles in green/white. Much of a role reversal here, from head to foot. Jets white lid, Eagles green lid. Jets white jersey, Eagles green jersey! Jets green pants, Eagles white pants! Jets white socks, Eagles - um - black socks! For that alone, I give this a plus!

Browns-Cardinals: Browns heading for a full season of WAY (white all year). Cardinals, just like the Broncos, with a hat trick of all dark at home, going red/red. This so deep a contrast (all white vs all red) that I happen to dig this, man.

Ravens-Chargers: Ravens in all white and the Chargers with their second showing in powder blue/white. Ravens haven't worn black pants since week 7 and I think they would have played nicely off of the Bolts POWder blues. As always, the Chargers ratchet up the chart whenever they break out these babies. Just a thought...powder blue tops and navy blue bottoms??? Shock factor: HIGH!

Steelers-49ers: Steelers in white/yellow and the Niners in red/gold. Niners are so hot this season that the transformer blew at Candlestick! This is actually a sharp looking matchup here and shows beyond the shadow of a doubt when we talk about the difference between yellow and gold.

Summing up, I think Week 15 was one of the best weeks for uni matchups for 2011, even if all 16 games featured all dark at home.

Here's the hit parade:

1) Bengals-Rams

2) Browns-Cardinals

3) Dolphins-Bills

4) Ravens-Chargers

5) Steelers-49ers

6) Jets-Eagles

7) Patriots-Broncos

8) Titans-Colts

9) Saints-Vikings

10) Redskins-Giants

11) Packers-Chiefs

12) Panthers-Texans

13) Seahawks-Bears

14) Cowboys-Buccaneers

15) Lions-Raiders

16) Jaguars-Falcons

Check in next week for further review!

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Thanks, Tim.  And now for our new regular feature, "On This Day..."

On December 21, 1974, thirty-seven years ago yesterday, the two time defending Super Bowl Champion Miami Dolphins played an AFC Divisional Playoff Game in Oakland, losing on the final play, a miraculous pass from Ken Stabler to Clarence Davis.  

We are proud to add this game to Gridiron Uniform Database's collection of randomly added single-game matchups.

You can view other randomly added past games here.

According to Wikipedia:

With 24 seconds left in the game, Raiders RB Clarence Davis somehow caught the game-winning touchdown pass among "the sea of hands" of three Dolphins defenders. This game eliminated Miami from the playoffs after they had made it to the Super Bowl in each of the last 3 seasons. Also known as the "Lost Game" due to both NBC and NFL Films losing their English copies of the broadcast. It was thought until recently that the only remaining copy was NBC's Spanish version, when NFL Films found their copy buried deep in storage, which they thought was lost in a move in the early 80's.

Week 14 Uniform Rankings

While there are still three weeks left in the NFL regular season (which is unfortunate if you are a Buccaneers fan like some of us around here) we have reached the end of the academic year, which for me at least, means I will have more time to devote to the Gridiron Uniform Database.  So check back more often to this blog, as we may, for the time being return to the "daily update" format that was so popular and successful during the summer.  Hopefully in the coming weeks, we'll be able to make a huge dent in the past years head-to-head matchups.  If you have any particular past year matchups you'd like to see, like for instance this one, post a reply or in post it in the forum and we'll add it.  In the meantime, we'd also like to debut a new feature today called "On This Day..."   Every day, from now through the Super Bowl, we'll be featuring a past NFL matchup that occurred on this calendar day.

On This Day...

Today, in the first of this series, we'd like to feature the December 16, 1979 matchup between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Kansas City Chiefs.  This was the Bucs' Cinderella season, after going 0-14, 2-12, and 5-11 in their first three seasons of existence, the Bucs started out 5-0 behind the play of second-year QB Doug Williams, RB Ricky Bell and a great defense led by Lee Roy Selmon and Richard Wood.  After 12 games they were 9-3 and needed one more win to clinch their first ever playoff spot.   With three straight losses, however, to Minnesota, Chicago and the 1-13 San Francisco 49ers, the Bucs' playoff hopes came down to this final game.  A win would mean the NFC Central title, a loss would mean the Bears would take the division and the Bucs wouldn't even make the playoffs.  A torrential downpour caused a sloppy game and a defensive battle against the Chiefs.  One Neil O'Donoghue field goal was the only scoring, and the Bucs prevailed 3-0.

This game was featured on NFL Networks' Top 10 Bad Weather Games of all time, and you can watch the segment on this game here.

We'll be back tomorrow with a great game from a past December 17, and now here's Tim with this week's uniform rankings:

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Week 14 Uniform Rankings

by Tim Brulia

Welcome to the blog for Week 14. No less than 8 games involving all white in the mix:

Browns-Steelers: Browns in looks like a run of the table in white/white this season. Steelers with their second and last game in the black/white throwbacks. Picture yourself at Forbes Field in the 1960-1962 era. Jim Brown and Ernie Stautner. Kind of the same feeling in 2011.

Chiefs-Jets: Chiefs rocking all white for the second straight week while the Jets go green/white. Somewhat of a Holiday feel, but the Chiefs would look so much better in red pants here.

Buccaneers-Jaguars: Battle of Upper Florida. Bucs go white pewter and the Jags with the teal/white. This one I like because the Jags go teal and the Bucs bless us everyone with pewter pants. Thumbs up to these two.

Patriots-Redskins: Pats go white/navy and the Skins, apparently ditching yellow pants for good this season, go burgundy/white. Lotsa color here; silver, red, burgundy, yellow, navy. Like this one a lot.

Falcons-Panthers: Falcons all white and the Panthers go black/silver. The nicest colors, red and Carolina blue, are merely trim colors in this matchup. Alas, a few knockdowns on the list for that.

Colts-Ravens: Colts return to their onetime home in all white and the current Charm City residents go purple/white. A normal but not that exciting matchup.

Eagles-Dolphins: Eagles in the green/white and the Fish in the all white. Again, I am not that worked up over this uni matchup.

Vikings-Lions: Vikes are another team going all white with the Lions in standard Honolulu blue/silver. The purple and yellow trim save this game from being a rather meh affair. Lions still looking good.

Saints-Titans: NO back in the gold pants complimenting the white jersey while the Titans roll with the columbia blue/navy blue look. I happen to think this matchup works well.

Texans-Bengals: The Tex rocking white/navy and the home Bengals go with the black/white get-up. Another combo that fits rather well.

Bears-Broncos: Bears in the white/navy standard and the Broncos show off the all blue look again. Oddly, a little too much dark blue for me. Broncs should've gone with white pants here. Intriguing nonetheless.

49ers-Cardinals: Niners go with standard white/gold and the Cardinals, after keeping the red pants on the shelves all season long suddenly get a case a scarlet fever two weeks in a row. And, the red pants would gone so well earlier, now pose too much red in this matchup. Should've stuck with white pants here.

Bills-Chargers: Bills do the all white thing, but it looks like the white socks are out for the season as they keep with the blue socks. Chargers with their navy/white look. Just once, I'd love to see the Bolts go all navy. Here, it would have been fantastic.

Raiders-Packers: Classic, yet - well - classic. Raiders in white/silver, Packers in green/yellow. Very nice, lads.

Giants-Cowboys: Giants in the blue/gray and the Cowboys in white/quasi-silver. BUT, these are not your normal Giants' blue/grays. They are the G-Men's blue/AWAY grays, where the side stripes are separated and a wee bit thinner than the HOME gray pants, with the blue/red/blue stripes. A nice occasional kink to the standard fare.

Rams-Seahawks: Rams in all-white and the Seahawks, who have never stained a home game in their entire history with a white jersey, go the usual all Seahawks blue. For the horned sheep, I think the gold pants would have been the way to go here. But white - to me - goes better than blue pants for this occasion.


So the Week 14 lineup goes as follows:

16) Eagles-Dolphins
15) Colts-Ravens
14) Chiefs-Jets
13) Bills-Chargers
12) Falcons-Panthers
11) Vikings-Lions
10) 49ers-Cardinals
9) Rams-Seahawks
8) Browns-Steelers
7) Bears-Broncos
6) Buccaneers-Jaguars
5) Giants-Cowboys
4) Saints-Titans
3) Raiders-Packers
2) Patriots-Redskins
1) Texans-Bengals

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Tim will be back next week with the Week 15 sartorial review, and we'll see you tomorrow with another "On This Day..."