Week 1 2015 Weekly Uniform Rankings

by Tim Brulia

Hi-Ho! Timmy B back atcha for another season of the vitally important and historically significant weekly uniform rankings! By the way, my opinions do not in any way reflect the opinions of my partners in crime, Rob Holecko or Bill Schaefer, or anyone else involved with the GUD.

Let's go.

73,358) Vikings-49ers: MIN in white/white, SF in black/black. OK, first, the Vikes. Nice helmet, wish you would have worn the purple pants. Now, the Niners. I don't know if I've been more disappointed with a uniform than this. All black is so tired. All black with red NOB's and numbers and NO trim is terrible. An eyesore, nearly impossible to see the numbers from the scrimmage TV cameras. Identification is the key element in a football jersey. This is why you have huge honking numbers on the front and back. gold or white outlines on the numbers would have been a monster plus. At least the Nike logo was in gold. The pants? Pointless. I would have kept the gold pants here.

15) Seahawks-Rams: SEA in white/navy, STL in navy/navy. A little more gray on the Seahawks would have been a big improvement on this navy laden lineup. Or perhaps, the Rams in white pants. One and/or the other would have been a help here.

14) Browns-Jets: CLE in brown/orange, NYJ in white/green. Wow. What color! Now, who's carrying the ball for the Browns? Can't tell? Join the club! Twice before in Browns history (1946 and 1984), the Browns decided to wear orange numbers on brown jerseys, with at least at least a full white outline. Twice before those very seasons ended, the Browns ended up switching to white numbers because fans and media alike complaining that they couldn't see the numbers. It appears that history may be repeating itself. On top of that, the Browns made a surprising decision to wear orange socks with the brown/orange combo, which really looked out of place. But at least it was different. Oh, the Jets? They wore the white over green combo. But the green seems to be more olive drab than ever. Still, preferred to the all white-whitey-white-white combo. One of the more bizarre matchups that I've ever seen.

13) Dolphins-Redskins: MIA in white/white, WSH in burgundy/yellow. A Redskin WAH (white at home) combo would have forced aqua tops on the Dolphins, which would have created a way more colorful matchup. But alas, it appears that the Dolphins will yet again play in all white this season. Disappointing. But the Redskins in burgundy does save the day. Sorta.

12) Eagles-Falcons: PHI in white/white, ATL in red/white. Man, if the Eagles had rocked the green pants here, this matchup could have medaled. But the Birds stay close to the vest with the all white look. Falcons, whose red uni seems so much better than their white ones, perk this matchup in a spunky way.

11) Titans-Buccaneers: TEN in navy/white, TB in white/white. Would have kinda liked the Bucs to go with pewter pants and red socks. Would have made for a lively matchup. But, they go with their most "conservative" look again a navy over white Titan team. The result is eye pleasing if not eye candy.

10) Saints-Cardinals: NO in white/gold, ARZ in red/white. I guess as the season progresses, the Saints will eventually break out the black pants and the Cardinals will unleash the red pants. But not today. Not saying both in dark trousers, but at least one in dark bottoms would have brought this game up the list a few notches.

9) Colts-Bills: IND in blue/white, BUF in throwback white/white. Bills coach Rex Ryan digs the WAH look early in the season. The Bills cooperated by wearing the not quite exact throwback to celebrate the 1964-65 AFL Championship team. From this end, the Bills could've done better with the blue throwbacks from this era. It was an OK matchup, but not the best.

8) Ravens-Broncos: BAL in white/black, DEN in orange/white. The Ravens do the right thing in wearing the black pants. And while the Broncos orange continues to groove my eyes, I just can't evoke a pure thrill here. Maybe sometime soon, the Ravens need to expose the purple a bit more.

7) Giants-Cowboys: NYG in blue/gray, DAL in white/mint. A very, very familiar look for these twice yearly opponents. Does it get boring? Every now and then, sure. But this week, the comfort of familiarity is soothing. Just that breath of Giants red makes it worth the mundane.

6) Chiefs-Texans: KC in red/white, HOU in white/white. The Texans are making a tradition of starting the home season in white over white, then going to the more normal white and navy contrasts. The Chiefs brilliant red jerseys add some needed color to the proceedings.

5) Bengals-Raiders: CIN in white/white, OAK in black/silver. Bengals do well to go with orange socks instead of black and make orange a great off-set color against the standard black over silver of the Raiders. The result of this little maneuver is a fairly appealing matchup.

4) Packers-Bears: GB in white/yellow, CHI in throwback navy/white. The Bears do like this throwback, and they should. It's about as accurate as it gets (save for the NOB and modern sleeve cut). Bouncing off the reliable Packer togs, the twosomes pair up nicely.

3) Lions-Chargers: Like the Texans, the Chargers seem to be making this all in white opener their little new tradition. And against the Lions in their prominent honolulu blue and silver, it works. Navy trim, yellow and powder blue bolts and navy socks compliment this matchup better than one would expect. One bit of disappointment, the Lions using the William Clay Ford s a permanent memorial,

2) Steelers-Patriots: PIT in white/yellow, NE in navy/silver. The kickoff to the 2015 featured familiar hue that do contrast nicely. Black, white, yellow, navy and a glint of red. Sharp, though predictable. Included was a commemorative championship patch for the Pats and it was a plus.

1) Panthers-Jaguars: CAR in carolina blue/silver, JAX in white/white. This has surprising eye appeal for me. I've always loved the light blue Panther jerseys and have thought these should be the main dark jersey for them. And for some reason the Jaguars helmet with gold on back and matte black on front works well here. Glad they kept the black slacks in the shelves.

So, we are under way for 2015. Keep your eye on the blog! And enjoy Week 2!!

New for 2015

The 2015 Season is HERE!!

With that in mind, as always, there are some changes in the mix for the coming season. We will review them as best we can.

Falcons:
The Falcons are celebrating their 50th season While they have created a logo to celebrate, we did not see this as a patch in the preseason. If this does not see action in the regular season, consider this moot.

Ravens:
The Ravens in celebration of their 20th season in Baltimore will wear this patch.

Browns:
Of course the Browns unveiled a near total overhaul of their uniforms back in April. Rumor has it the coaches are not pleased with the orange numbers on the brown jerseys because of the difficulty in picking up numbers on game film. Duh. Could we see a mid-season switcheroo to white numbers on the brown tops? Stay tuned.

Lions:
Are the Lions going to make the WCF memorial patch a permanent thing? They wore the William Clay Ford patch in the preseason. Keep an eye out for this.

Packers:
The Pack ditched the 1929-31 "fauxback" for this ode to 1937-48 influenced navy gem.

Dolphins:
The 'Fins are breaking out this 1966 throwback homage for a Monday nighter later in the season. Like the Falcons, Miami is also offering a 50th season celebration patch, that is color coordinated with the jersey being worn.

Giants:
A memorial helmet decal for Frank Gifford and a memorial patch for Ann Mara (unavailable as of this blog) is in the offing.

Eagles:
A memorial helmet decal for Hall of Famer Chuck Bednarik is being worn.

49ers:
As noted early in the offseason, the Niners are going to breakout a black alternate jersey with red trimmings. As well, a helmet decal to honor Bob St. Clair's passing is being worn.

Buccaneers:
The Bucs are saluting their 40th season as a franchise with this patch.

And on a league-wide basis, the NFL featured a "Heads Up" decal worn on all helmets in the preseason and will feature the now standard Breast Cancer Awareness pink ribbon decal for Weeks 4, 5 and 6 and display the Salute to Service camouflage stickers to be worn for Weeks 9, 10 and 11.


We will continue to post the weekly matchups and perform the GUD's unofficial weekly uniform rankings as the season progresses.

Keep it here and be sure to check out updates on our Facebook and Twitter pages as always.

"Old Is New Again" or "What in Sam Hill is a 'Clash' Jersey?" - Part II

Time to move on to the NFC...

As mentioned in Part I, Philadelphia, Carolina, San Francisco, Arizona, and Seattle each already have their 3 jerseys - white and two colors.

Dallas is the lone candidate from the NFC to join the Colts, Jets, and Raiders without a clash jersey. Why, you ask? They already possess a navy jersey and a white jersey. What are they going to do? Invent some new shade of blue or silver that again manages not to match any existing shade of either that they already use? No, navy and white are enough.

The rest of the NFC? Well, here we go.

GIANTS:
Reaching back into their history and pulling out the red jerseys again in their second reincarnation since they were reintroduced back back in 2004-07.

EAGLES:
As with the Ravens, I'm not sure how much contrast benefit the black jerseys provide versus the midnight green jerseys, but here they are anyways. Perhaps a silver (or is it 'charcoal'?) version instead?

REDSKINS:
Am I the only person in the universe who a) dislikes the Redskins' yellow pants? b) links those yellow pants to the decline of the Redskins' performance? and c) really misses the burgundy pants and white socks? I had to revive the latter to pair with this clash jersey.

BEARS:
A ready-made clash jersey in orange for the Monsters of the Midway.

LIONS:
Black was not an option as a clash jersey as it would be an omnipresent reminder to all Lions fans of the Millen Era. Instead we go with a silver jersey and bring back the blue pants from 1998. The stripes on those pants needed to be re-ordered to keep grey always bordering the black stripes. I originally planned to do away with the black altogether but the intent of the project is not to make a radical alteration to the entire uniform scheme, so the black remained.

PACKERS:
As a Bears fan, it pains me to say this but of all of the clash jersey combos I've assembled, I think this Packers combo is the best. I started with the white jersey template and simply reverse the yellow and white. I removed the middle sleeve stripe leaving only the two outer green stripes. Doing so made this jersey into a fine replica of the early 1950s. Reversing the yellow and green in the pants and adding a contrasting yellow belt accentuates the look. In order to break up the green a bit I changed the socks to yellow and added 2 green stripes identical to those on the sleeves. Why do those green pants look so good?

VIKINGS:
Another yellow clash jersey. Nothing remarkable here. Just a yellow version of the white jersey.

FALCONS:
Atlanta reclaims the black version of their red primary off of the scrap heap.

PANTHERS:
A ready-made triumvirate.

SAINTS:
The gold jersey returns!

BUCCANEERS:
Fixing this hot mess was not the goal. Creating a usable clash jersey was.

CARDINALS:
Not the most original or sensible clash jersey but it does the job.

RAMS:
Whether the team stays in the Gateway City or bolts for the City of Angels, this clash will contrast well with either the current modern set if the team stays or with a throwback look the team may opt for upon its return to California. This clash has us feeling like its 1956!

49ERS:
While the jury is still out on this concoction, you cannot dispute that clash it does. I do admit that I like the gold swooshes on the black background, though.

SEAHAWKS:
Could have been worse. There could have been an 'action green' jersey thrown into the mix instead.

Hope you enjoy folks!
The season starts for real this week!

Bill Schaefer

"Old Is New Again" or "What in Sam Hill is a 'Clash' Jersey?" - Part I ***UPDATED***

Prior to the 2015 season beginning, an announcement was made that Thursday Night games would be permitted to be waged as it was over 50 years ago - with both teams wearing colored jerseys. One year before "The Greatest Game Ever Played," the League instituted a rule in 1957 requiring each team to have a white jersey option. Doing so would provide contrast for viewers on television - the new medium for broadcasting games.

In the years leading up to that time, 'color versus color' (or CVC) was the norm. Teams like the Bears, Lions, and Redskins wore their colored jerseys for almost every game, in some cases for decades, without interruption. However, teams like the Giants, who primarily wore red jerseys for most of their games until 1953, needed something else in their lockers when they played Washington (burgundy), traveled to the Chicago Cardinals (red), or even went across town to visit the Brooklyn Dodgers (red). Two teams playing in red simply wouldn't do.

Enter the 'clash jersey.'  From 1937-52, the Giants carried an extra blue clash jersey designed to replace the normal red ones when they played a team wearing red (or reddish) jerseys. Other teams that featured clash jerseys included those same Dodgers and Cardinals whose versions of their clash jerseys were identical to their primary jerseys, just in a contrasting blue as opposed to red. Green Bay had plain or striped yellow jerseys to contrast their greens. The Rams had plain blue (plain red in 1949) to contrast their yellow jerseys in their Cleveland and early L.A. days. The Steelers had yellow versions of their black jerseys in the early 1940s. Even the Colts wore a plain, unstriped red jersey as a clash jersey when they played against other dark or navy jersey teams for their first three years of play.

So with HD televisions and an image-conscious NFL now encouraging CVC match-ups on Thursday Nights this season, some teams will eventually need to reach into the past in order to provide for the future. They will require a modern version of the clash jersey. After all, what better way to escalate jersey sales than to require nearly half of the League to add a new official jersey?

Despite such NFL 'shoves' in that direction, several teams either can't, or shouldn't, go the clash jersey route. For example, if your team has only two colors in their color scheme and one of them is white, you should really stick with that color and white. I'm looking at you, Colts and Jets. First, I can't picture a black & royal or a black & green version for either team. Second, while a blue clash jersey was fine for those red teams half a century ago, I don't think the League wants teams to introduce a color that is not part of the team's scheme. <coughNinerscoughblackjerseycough> Excuse me, please. What was that?

Some teams actually already possess their clash jerseys. The Chargers have their powder blues that would provide enough contrast against other navy based teams. The Broncos still carry their navy jerseys as an alternate that can be worn against other orange or red teams when wearing their own orange wouldn't slice it. The Cardinals have a black jersey to wear against other red-based clubs.

Other teams have worn their clash jersey in the past but have since abandoned it and would need to resurrect said third jersey. The Bears wore an orange jersey as an alternate from 2005-11. The Falcons wore the black version of their current red primary as their main jersey for several years in the early 2000s until switching to the current red and creating a black throwback that has since been abandoned as well. My favorite would be the Saints bringing back the gold jerseys they wore for a single game back in 2002.

Fans would likely need to get used to seeing plenty of yellow (not gold) as clash jerseys. Green Bay, Pittsburgh, Minnesota, Kansas City, and Washington all utilized yellow as their main 'second color' other than white. These yellow jerseys would necessitate the Packers, Steelers, and Redskins to add a new pair of pants to their wardrobe as a mono-yellow look would be hard on the eyes.

What, then, should these new clash jerseys look like?

Well, one thing we can be sure of. Back in the day, the Cardinals sometimes kept their red socks to wear with their blue clash jerseys. Other times they coordinated and paired matching blue socks with the blue jerseys. In today's NFL, any team going with the clash combo would go the 'whole nine yards' in order to match up and down.

For the AFC as already noted, the Jets and Colts would not add an extra jersey. The Bengals, Browns, Ravens, Jaguars, Texans, Titans, Broncos, and Chargers each already have a white jerseys and two differently colored jerseys and therefore need no further additions. That leaves the Bills, Patriots, Dolphins, Steelers, Chiefs and Raiders being in need of a newly colored clash jersey. But after thinking about it, my belief is that the Raiders would forgo every opportunity to add a third jersey. I thought about a silver jersey similar to what the Patriots used for several years but I couldn't see that getting paired with silver pants. And since the Raiders just don't wear something other than silver pants, I went ahead and added Oakland to the Colts and Jets as teams not receiving a new jersey.

BUFFALO:
This was a relatively easy swapping of red and blue. I did the same thing with the socks.

PATRIOTS:
Navy and red are exchanged again. I was tempted to remove the jersey side-panels but decided against it. The pants stripes were recolored so that the stripes match the jersey side-panels. The belt was also changed to red. I was tempted to change the silver shoulder stripes on the clash jersey to navy but decided against it due to the fact that they'd then look too much like the Texans' red jerseys.

DOLPHINS:
An exchange of orange for aqua has this clash jersey combo resembling the one worn in 2003-04 and again in 2009-10. I thought about reversing the orange and aqua in the pants stripe but then it would not match the helmet stripe so I left it be.

STEELERS:
Half-way through this clash jersey I had a change of heart. Due to the way the Steelers have cut their 'northwestern' sleeve stripe pattern in half, along with the fact that the home jersey and road jersey patterns are not the same, I decided to go with the road white jersey template and change it into a yellow clash jersey. Black and yellow were reversed and the socks, too, were changed to yellow. I badly wanted to add northwestern stripes to the socks but came to the conclusion that complete NW stripes on the socks would be too much in contrast with the abbreviated set of stripes on the sleeves so I left them out. In order to avoid the 'full-banana,' I chose to bring back the white pants worn by the Steelers in 1970-71 which would actually look really good when worn with either of the other two jerseys, as well.

CHIEFS:
The Chiefs (and/or the NFL and its jersey manufacturers) have been producing novelty yellow Chiefs jerseys for years. Now one will finally see game action. White and yellow have been swapped out in a re-colorizing of the Chiefs' road white jersey. This clash jersey just screamed to be paired with the Chiefs' red pants.

The rest of the AFC - minus the Colts, Jets, and Raiders - should already be familiar to our viewers but, for consistency, we'll include them here.

RAVENS:
Not sure how much contrast black provides versus the purple. I can't see how Baltimore could wear purple against a team wearing, say, navy. Black wouldn't be much good in that case, either.

BENGALS:
Definitely adequate contrast provided here, though.

BROWNS:
Ditto for the Browns.

TEXANS:
No problems here.

JAGUARS:
For the sake of brevity, let's just say that contrast is not the problem here.

TITANS:
Despite putting the light blue jerseys into storage, they'd work well as a clash jersey. But would a red jersey work better? I think it does. And it is a team color, too.

BRONCOS:
I still like the navy jersey better.

CHARGERS:
Will Spanos ever wake up and make the powders the primary?

The NFC should present some more opportunities.

The Eagles, Panthers, 49ers, Cardinals, and Seahawks each have three existing jerseys.

The Cowboys are my only team that I have determined do not need a third jersey (to be explained next time).

That leaves 10 teams in the rest of the NFC needing their clash jerseys developed from scratch or resurrected from the storage closet.

Stay tuned for Part II.

Bill Schaefer

The GUD's Preseason Project

by Tim Brulia

When we say there's no off-season at the Gridiron Uniform Database, we really mean it!!

As many of you know from our Facebook page, we post a random daily uniform matchup and - as of yet - haven't missed a beat. The feature has proven popular and at least lets everyone know that we still have a healthy pulse. We certainly appreciate the positive feedback.

However back in February, the GUD crew and some devoted helpers, decided to go full bore on finding photographs from as many games as possible to determine what uniforms were worn in the preseason games. Our aim is to find at least one good shot from each preseason game going all the way back to 1950. Why? Who cares? It's the preseason!! The main reasons for this project are:

1) To have as definitive a list as possible.

2) To (hopefully) dispel as many urban legends as possible.

3) To settle as many uniform disputes as possible.

4) To discover as many hidden/unknown gems as possible.

5) To be as accurate with what the GUD displays on gridiron-uniforms.com as possible.

As of the writing of this blog, our sole tool for research has been the various newspaper archives and pictorial archives that can be found on the web. So far, we have been quite fortunate to uncover all but a handful of games for each season going back to 1960. As for the missing games? Here is a listing of what games we have yet to find a good photograph from:

1999:
9/3 - Oakland Raiders at Arizona Cardinals

1996:
8/2 - New Orleans Saints at Detroit Lions

1993:
8/21 - Phoenix Cardinals at San Diego Chargers

1992:
8/1 - Washington Redskins at Miami Dolphins (Orlando)
8/8 - San Diego Chargers at Phoenix Cardinals
8/22 - New England Patriots at Detroit Lions

1991:
8/10 - Miami Dolphins at Tampa Bay Buccaneers
8/17 - Detroit Lions at Kansas City Chiefs
8/17 - New England Patriots at Phoenix Cardinals
8/23 - Los Angeles Raiders at San Diego Changers
8/23 - Denver Broncos at Phoenix Cardinals

1990:
8/11 - Dallas Cowboys at San Diego Chargers
8/11 - Seattle Seahawks at Phoenix Cardinals
8/24 - Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Seattle Seahawks
8/25 - San Francisco 49ers at San Diego Chargers
8/31 - Phoenix Cardinals at Denver Broncos

1989:
8/19 - Cincinnati Bengals at Detroit Lions
8/26 - Dallas Cowboys at Denver Broncos

1988:
8/13 - San Diego Chargers at Los Angeles Rams
8/26 - Los Angeles Rams at San Diego Chargers

1987:
8/22 - Cincinnati Bengals at Detroit Lions
8/29 - Buffalo Bills at Kansas City Chiefs
9/4 - San Francisco 49ers at Seattle Seahawks
9/5 - Houston Oilers at Dallas Cowboys

1986:
8/16 - Buffalo Bills at Houston Oilers

1985:
8/24 - Indianapolis Colts at Denver Broncos
8/31 - St. Louis Cardinals at Kansas City Chiefs

1984:
8/4 - Philadelphia Eagles at Detroit Lions
8/11 - New England Patriots at Buffalo Bills
8/24 - Denver Broncos at Atlanta Falcons

1983:
8/13 - Atlanta Falcons at Denver Broncos
8/27 - Cincinnati Bengals at Detroit Lions

1982:
8/21 - Atlanta Falcons vs. Baltimore Colts (Tempe, AZ)
9/4 - Detroit Lions at Buffalo Bills

1981:
8/8 - Detroit Lions at Buffalo Bills
8/22 - Seattle Seahawks at San Francisco 49ers
8/29 - Denver Broncos at Cincinnati Bengals

1980:
8/16 - Buffalo Bills at Detroit Lions
8/23 - Los Angeles Rams at Denver Broncos

1979:
8/4 - Cincinnati Bengals at Detroit Lions
8/11 - San Francisco 49ers at Oakland Raiders

1978:
8/5 - Buffalo Bills at Detroit Lions

1976:
7/31 - Chicago Bears at Denver Broncos

1974:
9/7 - Cleveland Browns at Detroit Lions

1973:
8/18 - Baltimore Colts vs. Detroit Lions (Memphis)

1972:
8/5 - Atlanta Falcons at San Diego Chargers

1971:
8/14 - Cincinnati Bengals at Detroit Lions
8/21 - Denver Broncos vs. Atlanta Falcons (Memphis)

1969:
8/9 - Detroit Lions at Kansas City Chiefs
9/6 - Denver Broncos at Cincinnati Bengals

1967:
7/29 - Denver Broncos vs. Miami Dolphins (Akron, OH)
8/12 - Minnesota Vikings vs. Philadelphia Eagles (Tulsa, OK)
8/19 - New York Jets vs. Philadelphia Eagles (Cincinnati)
9/9 - Chicago Bears vs. Philadelphia Eagles (Memphis)
9/9 - Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Washington Redskins (Norfolk, VA)

1966 (NFL):
8/6 - Chicago Bears vs. Philadelphia Eagles (Memphis)
9/3 - Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Cleveland Browns (Birmingham)
1966 (AFL):
8/6 - Kansas City Chiefs at Denver Broncos
8/20 - Buffalo Bills vs. Houston Oilers (Little Rock, AR)
8/27 - Buffalo Bills vs. New York Jets (Allentown, PA)
9/1 - Boston Patriots vs. New York Jets (Mobile, AL)

1965 (AFL):
8/7 - Kansas City Chiefs at Denver Broncos
8/28 - New York Jets vs. Boston Patriots (Norfolk, VA)
9/4 - Boston Patriots at Kansas City Chiefs

1964 (AFL):
8/8 - Buffalo Bills vs. New York Jets (Tampa)
8/14 - Kansas City Chiefs at Buffalo Bills
9/5 - Boston Patriots at Denver Broncos
9/5 - Buffalo Bills vs. New York Jets (Kingston, PA*)
*Kingston, PA is located in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area of PA.

1963 (NFL):
8/10 - Baltimore Colts vs. Philadelphia Eagles (Hershey, PA)
8/10 - Cleveland Browns at Detroit Lions
1963 (AFL):
8/9 - New York Jets vs. Houston Oilers (Shreveport, LA)
8/31 - Denver Broncos vs. Buffalo Bills (Winston-Salem, NC)
8/31 - Houston Oilers vs. Kansas City Chiefs (Wichita, KS)

1962 (NFL):
8/11 - Cleveland Browns at Detroit Lions
9/8 - Green Bay Packers vs. Washington Redskins (Columbus, GA)
1962 (AFL):
8/4 - New York Titans at Houston Oilers
8/10 - Denver Broncos vs. Houston Oilers (Atlanta)

1961 (NFL):
8/12 - Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Baltimore Colts (Roanoke, VA)
8/19 - Chicago Bears vs. Washington Redskins (Charleston, SC)
8/26 - Baltimore Colts vs. Washington Redskins (Norfolk, VA)
8/26 - St. Louis Cardinals vs. Pittsburgh Steelers (Jacksonville)
9/1 - Baltimore Colts vs. Dallas Cowboys (Norman, OK)
9/1 - St. Louis Cardinals at Detroit Lions
9/9 - Green Bay Packers vs. Washington Redskins (Columbus, GA)
1961 (AFL):
8/12 - Denver Broncos at Dallas Texans (Midland, TX)
8/25 - Buffalo Bills at Boston Patriots (Providence)
9/1 - Denver Broncos vs. Houston Oilers (Mobile, AL)

1960 (NFL):
8/14 - Cleveland Browns at Detroit Lions
8/20 - St. Louis Cardinals at Detroit Lions (Toledo, OH)
8/26 - St. Louis Cardinals vs. Baltimore Colts (Charleston, SC)
8/27 - Dallas Cowboys vs, New York Giants (Louisville)
8/27 - Philadelphia Eagles vs. Washington Redskins (Norfolk, VA)
9/3 - Philadelphia Eagles vs. Detroit Lions (Norman, OK)
9/4 - Dallas Cowboys vs. Los Angeles Rams (Pendleton, OR)
9/9 - Philadelphia Eagles at St Louis Cardinals
9/10 - Chicago Bears vs. Cleveland Browns (Akron, OH)
9/17 - Green Bay Packers vs. Washington Redskins (Winston-Salem, NC)
1960 (AFL):
8/26 - New York Titans vs. Houston Oilers (Mobile, AL)
8/27 - Denver Broncos vs. Dallas Texans (Little Rock, AR)

It is the goal of this reporter to make a trip or two to the expansive newspaper archives of the Library of Congress in due time to hopefully fill in as many gaps as possible to bring this project as close to its conclusion as possible.

Obviously, one major question asked is: Will we see weekly matchups of the preseason games like you have for the regular season and post season? As of now, we do not intend to have a visual graphic for these games. It would be very time consuming. However, we do intend to put a coded spreadsheet on the GUD of these games, linked by the "Research" tab on the GUD's main page. That way, you can see at a glance by (pre)season who wore what unis and when they wore them. For the sake of completion, the College All-Star Games will also be included in the spreadsheet for the seasons played.

A tip of the helmet goes out to co-GUD'er Bill Schaefer for his dogged determination to assist with the project, Larry Schmitt, our assistant-in-chief, "smith03" and Brad Sullivan, for plugging in as many holes as they were able. Also, a deferential bow goes to the profootballarchives.com website, from which we were able to reconstruct a viable preseason schedule for all the seasons in question.

Now, let's kickoff the 2015 preseason!

The Time Has Come...For An Update.

by Bill Schaefer

Over the last three weeks Rob Holecko has begun the arduous process of updating the GUD with the largest batch of new images since the site was created.

While these updates can all be found individually on the "Updates" tab, I thought it would be beneficial to see a simple list of everything that has been entered so far.

League-wide (or at least 'mostly' League-wide): Fixed for the teams that are finished and will be fixed for the teams yet to be processed.

1. 1978-81, 1983-2015 Wild Card teams...
          For some reason, each team under this heading was credited with either 
          a "First Round Playoff" victory or loss rather than a "Wild Card" victory
          or loss.
2. Authentic patch for 1994 "75th Anniversary Season."
3. Authentic patch for 2008 "Gene Upshaw Memorial."
4. Authentic ribbon patch for 2011 Week 1 "10th Anniversary of the 9/11 attacks."  
          Also included was that the open center of the ribbons were filled in white
          rather than letting the jersey color show through the center of the 
          ribbon. This has been fixed for all teams that wore colored jerseys for 
          Week 1. Six teams did not wear the ribbon at all due to playing on either 
          Opening Night (Thursday, September 8) or in one of the two Monday 
          Night games played on September 12.
5. Authentic patch for 2012 "50th Anniversary of the Pro Football Hall of Fame."
6. Authentic patch for 1969 "NFL's 50th anniversary" for NFL teams only.
7. Authentic patch for 2009 "AFL 50th Anniversary" for eight original AFL teams.
8. Improved the 1991-2011 collar and pants "NFL" shields and "NFL Equipment" patches.
9. Improved images of all 'high-white' socks and extended their inclusion up through 1987 for all teams.

Arizona Cardinals:

1. 1976 - added combo worn in preseason with patches on both shoulders.
2. 1990 - added a monowhite 'preseason only' combo.
3. 1998 - added authentic '100 years of Cardinals football' patch.
4. 2003 - added a 'white-over-red with striped white socks' preseason-only 
              combo.
5. 2005 - added authentic patch for regular season game played in Mexico City. 
              (Also will be added to the 2005 49ers.)
6. 2006 - a) added authentic 'Cardinals Stadium' patch and...
               b) added monowhite combo with the same patch as that combo was
                   additionally worn during the preseason only.
7. 2008 - added authentic 'Super Bowl XLIII' patch. (Also will be added to the
              2008 Steelers.)

Atlanta Falcons:

1. 1968-74...

Changes to number font styles.

   - 1968-70: Slant-topped chest with box-topped TVs and backs.

   - 1971-74: New red jerseys. Slant-topped on front and back. Box-topped on 
     TV numbers.

2. 1971-77...

Adjusted sock and sleeve stripes for 1971-74 and 1975-77.
   - 1971-74 sleeves and socks: middle black is as thick as 2 outer stripes 
     combined.
   - 1975-77 sleeves: all stripes are equal thickness.
   - 1975-77 socks: middle black stripe is thicker than 2 outer stripes combined.

3. 1988 - added authentic "David Crudip" patch.

4. 1994 - added authentic Whitey Zimmerman "ZEKE" patches (2).

5. 1997 - added authentic "Rankin Smith" patches (2).

6. 1998 - added authentic "Super Bowl XXXIII" patch. (Also will be added to the
              1998 Broncos.)

Baltimore Ravens:

1. 2000 - added authentic "Super Bowl XXXV" patch (Also will be added to the 
               2000 Giants.)

2. 2005 - added authentic "10th Anniversary" patch.

3. 2012 - added authentic "Art Modell" patch.

Buffalo Bills:

1. 1972 - changed belt color from black to blue.

2. 1976 - corrected facemask color to grey.

3. 1984 - added authentic "25th Anniversary of original AFL teams" patch.

4. 1990 - added authentic "Super Bowl XXV" patch. (Also will be added to the 
              1990 Giants.)

5. 1994 - added authentic "35th Anniversary" patch.

6. 2007 - added 'white-over-navy' preseason-only combo.

7. 2008-11 - added authentic "Toronto Series' patch.

8. 2009 - added authentic "50th Anniversary" patch.

9. 2014 - added authentic "Ralph Wilson" patch.

Carolina Panthers:

1. 1995 - added authentic "Inaugural Season" patch.

2. 2003 - added authentic "Super Bowl XXXVIII" patch. (Also will be added to 
               the 2003 Patriots.)

Chicago Bears:

1. 1983 - added authentic road jersey "George Halas" patch and improved the graphics for the home jersey "George Halas" patch (2 different patches).

2. 1984 - a) added monowhite preseason only combo and...

               b) added preseason-only combos without "GHS" memorial on left 
                   sleeves.

3. 1990-92 - adjusted sleeve lengths.

4. 2001 - a) added authentic "Soldier Field" patch and...

               b) added white-over-navy preseason-only combo.

5. 2006 - added authentic "Super Bowl XLI" patch. (Also will be added to the
               2006 Colts.)

6. 2011 - added authentic "International Series" patch (Also will be added to the
               2011 Buccaneers.)

Cincinnati Bengals:

1. 1981-2003 - adjusted the shade of orange.

2. 1988 - added monowhite combo with authentic "Cincinnati Bicentennial" patch on left sleeve for preseason Hall of Fame Game only.

3. 1988-90 & 1992-93 - added "BENGALS" wordmark to socks.

4. 1997 - different variation of pants stripes (reverted to '1996 version' for
               1998)

6. 1998 - added black to ends of sleeves of white jerseys.

7. 1999 - another different variation of pants stripes.

8. 2004-13 - adjusted shade of orange.

9. 2005 - added 'black-over-black with orange socks' as a preseason-only combo.

10. 2006 - added 'black-over-black with orange socks' as a preseason-only combo.

Cleveland Browns:

1. 1973-74 - changed number font style.
2. 1975-76 - made pants stripes thinner.
3. 1977-83 - made pants stripes wider.
4. 1979-95 - adjusted the shade of brown.
5. 1999 - added authentic "Inaugural Season" patch.
6. 2002 - added authentic "Al Lerner" patch.
7. 2003-12 - added authentic "Al Lerner" sleeve patch.
8. 2003 - added 'monowhite with striped white socks' as a preseason-only
               combo.
9. 2006 - added authentic "60th Anniversary" patches (2).

Dallas Cowboys:

1. 1967-2011 - improved 'star' logo on helmets.
2. 1974 - improved socks so that the two blue stripes appear on the 'high-whites.'
3. 1995 - a) added 'navy-over-silver' as a preseason-only combo and...
               b) added 1994 'white fauxback-over-silver' as a preseason-only 
                   combo, also.
4. 2000 - added authentic "Tom Landry" patch.
5. 2008 - added authentic "Texas Stadium" patch.
6. 2010 - added authentic "50th Anniversary" patch.
7. 2014 - added authentic "poppy" patch for game in England. (Also, the black
               version of the same patch will be added to the 2014 Jaguars.)

Denver Broncos:

1. 1975 - added authentic "Colorado Centennial" patch.
2. 1984 - added authentic "25th Anniversary of original AFL teams" patch and
               made it smaller than those worn by the other 7 teams.
3. 1997 - added authentic "Super Bowl XXXII" patch. (Also will be added to the
               1997 Packers.)
4. 2009 - added authentic "50th Anniversary" patch.
5. 2010 - added authentic "International Series" patch. (Also will be added to
               the 2010 49ers.)
6. 2013 - removed "AFC" from "AFC Divisional Playoff" designation to maintain
               consistency throughout the site.

Detroit Lions:

1. 1969-71* - changed central white stripe on pants back to grey due to Lions' 
                      Media Guide statement that the stripe didn't change to white
                      until 1972.
2. 1974 - added two additional combos wearing white shoes for Week 7                            through the rest of the season.
3. 1983 - added authentic "50th Anniversary" patches (2).
4. 1991 - added authentic "J. Russ Thomas" patches (2).
5. 1993 - added authentic "60th Anniversary" patch.
6. 2001-04, 2008, & 2010 - changed the shade of blue for throwback uniforms.
7. 2002 - added authentic "Ford Field" patch.
8. 2008 - added authentic "75th Anniversary" patch.
(* - due to photographic evidence to the contrary, this update will be altered further by changing the central pants stripe to neither white nor to a shade of grey that matches the pants but rather to a light grey somewhere in between. Stay tuned.)

We will be continuing to add additional large 'team' updates as well as isolated smaller updates over the next few weeks. 

By the way, during the last few weeks, some of our viewers have been bringing changes they believe need to be made to our attention. In some cases, we have already caught these errors and made the necessary changes, however, the updated images may still be residing in line for installment. Our advice, if you find something, continue as always and notify us. There is still the possibility that we are unaware of your discovery.

Eleven teams are done. More will follow.

Bill Schaefer

The Time Has Come...by Bill Schaefer

Last year, I penned this blog.

One of the things that we've encountered in this massive undertaking that is the GUD is that when we research one thing, we often discover something else completely unrelated. Within the last few days, our own Rob Holecko began the Herculean task of catching us up on many of the updates both we here, and you, the loyal viewers and contributors, have uncovered over the past year.

While researching cold weather gear worn by officials during the 'candy-striper' era of the 1940s, we noticed that the Cleveland Rams wore pants with the dreaded PABs - an acronym for what we have referred to as 'peek-a-boo' belts. This was the topic of a large-scale overhaul back in 2013.

How does all of this relate to our current undertaking, you ask? Well, as documented in the "Butterfly Effect" blog, we began by trying to improve some pretty horribly done socks that were original versions of 'high-whites' for the most part of the 1960s and 1970s. A contributor notified us that his own research found that the 'high-whites' phase continued past our current ending of 1982 (or so) up until around 1987.

At this point, the chore of cleaning up the 1960s and 1970s grew to include adding 'high-whites' up through 1987 for all teams.

Amidst doing that, I began to notice little things that bugged me. For instance, I could not see the primary white outline between the navy star on a Cowboys helmet and the outer navy outline. I knew it should be there, but it wasn't. So I fixed the helmet stars for all of the Cowboys' helmets from 1967-87. As soon as I finished I realized the monster I had created. While 1967-87 looked perfect and exactly the way I had envisioned, now every Cowboys helmet from 1988 on looked like garbage by comparison. The only solution would be to fix them all up until our newest templates - the Nike uniforms and Revolution style helmets - began for 2012. In other words, correcting 20 years of socks had turned into nearly 50 years of revisions for almost every team except the expansion teams. For them, I'd just have to fix their entire histories.

As I continued team-by-team from the end of the high-top cleats era (around the late 1950s), normal updates that both we, here, and you out in Internet-land were finding and posting in our Forum, the truth became clear.

How can I go through and improve what currently exists while at the same time working in all of the normal updates?

The answer: I can't.

Only one option existed. I would have to complete the improvements for every team and hold off on the regular updates until a teams improvements were finished. I could then go back to the improved images and make the changes required of the updates. In other words, these updates that Rob is going to be installing have been changed once, twice, and in some cases 3 times over the past year before a single change had been posted to the site.

Around Thanksgiving of 2014, I finished the improvements and set to work on the updates.

Both Tim and Rob have sat by patiently waiting for me to get to this point. That time has arrived.

Over the past 2 weeks, Rob has gotten us completely caught up on updates to 'old' NFL teams (1920 to the 1950s), the AAFC, the USFL, and game officials.

Now begins the largest single roll-out of 'refreshed' images and updates since the birth of the GUD. Rob will slowly begin these grandiose updates with the Arizona Cardinals for 1961-2012 and continue to add the improvements team-by-team for however long it takes.

Please keep in mind, the weekly match-up pages will receive the updates as well. Be patient with the roll-out process and check in to our Update page regularly to see what has been done to continue our mission here at GUD...

"Just get it right."

Bill Schaefer.

Presenting the 2015 Cleveland Browns

by Tim Brulia

Last night (April 14th), at about 7:45 ET, the Cleveland Browns, as promised, debuted their long awaited new uniforms. The unveiling was webcast on the Browns website and carried live locally in Cleveland on 5ABC (WEWS-TV).

Nine Browns players took the stage at the Cleveland Convention Center sporting all nine color combinations to cheers.

Courtesy of clevelandbrowns.com, rather than make a description of each combo, here are several of the combos.

Browns in all bronwn

Browns in all white

  

Browns in white/brown

Browns in brown/orange

Browns in all orange

Some highlights:

One that stands out as much as anything is the large "Cleveland" wordmark across the chest of the three jerseys.

Also, the Browns follow the path of the Carolina Panthers and added an inscription to the inside of the jersey collar,

following the lead of some college football teams and numerous soccer teams in Europe.


The three pants feature an unprecedented stripe and wordmark combination that appear to be more centered to the back of the pant leg

Browns orange pants.

Browns brown pants

The socks, you ask? Merely two pairs of hose; all orange and all brown. But we didn't see any players going with one orange and one brown at the unveiling.

All in all, a major change for sure. Surprising to this reporter is the use of orange numbers on the brown jerseys. Twice before in the Browns history have we seen this combination (1946 and 1984), and in each case, the team changed to white numbers as the orange numbers were considered difficult to see from afar.

But rumors abound that the orange jerseys will be the first choice of the Browns. If so, it would then appear that for the first time ever, the brown tops would be used as an alternate, meaning no more than three appearances a season, one in the preseason, and twice in the regular season.

As a reminder, if you want to see our blog on the history of the Browns prior to the coming see, here you go.

There they are, your 2015 Cleveland Browns!