The Boys Are Back

Today we are back in full force from our various vacations and technical malfunctions and are ready to hit this blog today at The Gridiron Uniform Database with a vengeance.  We have no less than 36 database updates to bring you, and we will try to do a huge chunk of them today. ~ ~ ~

     Let's get started with the 1994 and 1995 Raiders. Thanks to Mako Mameli, who brought this change to our attention.  We have added Starter manufacturer logos to the front of the pants.  Discussion is on-going in our forum about the number font of the 1960s Raiders.  I believe at one point we thought it was as simple as the black jerseys always had a particular font, and the white jerseys with the silver-with-black-outline (1963-64 & 1970) had the squared-off numbers and the other white jerseys -- the regular black numbers -- had the standard numbers.  Now, thanks to Mako, we are finding it is more complicated than that.

Cookie Gilchrist of the Bills in a 1962 Preseason tilt against Boston. 
Still undetermined is the status of the Pats' logo-less helmet on #85

     Another change we are debuting today is a 1962 preseason variation for the Buffalo Bills -- they did use this combination shown in this picture, and we are adding it to the database.

     We have made some changes to the 1957 Eagles and Browns, thanks to some images posted to our forum.  For the Eagles, we have changed the pants that they wore with the stripe-less white jersey to the white pants, and for the Browns, we added the preseason variation of number-less helmets.  They apparently waited until the regular season to debut their helmets with the numbers on them.  Thanks go to LarryB and BD Sullivan for this forum thread that brought us these updates.  This whole discussion owes itself to the images available online at the USC Digital Library, which has many 1950s Rams images in its collection.

Here are some images from the USC Digital Library:  1957 Eagles at Rams (left),
1957 Browns at Rams (center) and 1955 Packers at Rams (right).

     In these above images, in the picture on the right, which you can see in more detail here, we are currently looking into the Packers' stripe pattern.  Of this Packers image, our historian Tim Brulia says, "It's from 1955 and the Packers look to be clearly wearing WHITE stripes on the jerseys and socks and WHITE numbers on the jersey. Helmet and pants are clearly yellow."  Debate continues on this issue.

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     Another preseason change for the 1967 Detroit Lions:  We have determined that for the '67 season, the Lions wore a plain white preseason jersey, similar to the plain blue one they wore in 1968.  Speaking of preseason, tomorrow we will be bringing you Tim's column about some trends of uniform apparel in the history of NFL preseasons that you may have not already known

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     The 1994 Kansas City Chiefs have also received a minor update -- again it's Mako Mameli pointing out to us that we were missing the NFL Shield logo on the pants for the 75th Anniversary throwbacks.  Thanks Mako for all your contributions, and keep them coming.

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      We still have many more database updates to bring you, but we will save them for another time.  We have more on the 1996-2003 Eagles we discussed earlier this week, plus Houston Oilers and New York Jets changes, as well as a modification to the 1990 San Francisco 49ers, thanks to Larry Schmitt that we have to update.  We'll bring you those in the coming days.

     Yesterday I announced a contest regarding the NFL Network's Top 100 players of 2011 poll that they have been airing this summer.  Tomorrow night at 8 PM Eastern Time they will reveal the top 10.  They have already released numbers 11-100 in the past weeks (to the lower right on this page), and I thought it would be fun to have a contest to pick the order of the remaining ten.  This is similar to a contest we are having at another internet community that I am a part of, and I thought it would be fun to bring it here.  The rules are simple, pick the order of the remaining ten players, you start at 45 points, you get a bonus for getting a player at the right spot (+10 for #1 spot correct, +9 for #2 spot correct, etc., down to +1 for #10 spot correct), and you lose a point for each spot each player of yours is wrong by (i.e you have Brady at #1, he is #2, you lose 1 point; you have Brady at #1, he is #3, you lose 2 points etc.)  Minus-10 is most points you can lose, if a player you select isn't in top 10.  You would score a perfect score of 100, if you get all ten right, while the worst possible score you could get is -55, if all ten of your picks do not make the Top 10.  There is a thread in the forum to enter your picks, so get to it!

     Our other on-going contest is the Best NFL Uniform Of All-Time tournament.  Voting will soon end on the first group of entries, so if you haven't voted on those yet, hurry up and do so.  Monday we will have our second group of first-round match-ups, so be sure not to miss that.

Technical Difficulties, Please Stand By (+ another contest)

     Due to PC issues beyond our control, The Gridiron Uniform Database has been unable to bring you a blog entry these past couple days.

     The database and forum are still up and running, so you can still join in on the uniform discussions and debate like always.

     Rest assured, these issues will soon be resolved and we'll be back Saturday with a full update, and on Sunday we'll be bringing you Tim Brulia's weekly column.

     Monday, we will have another set of uniform matchups in the Best Uniform Of All-Time contest to vote on.  If you haven't voted on this week's already, you can do so here.

     In the meantime, between now and 8 PM Eastern Sunday, in a special contest thread in the forum, pick who you think will be #1 through 10 in NFL Network's Top 100 of 2011.  Numbers #11-100 have already been unveiled.  Further contest rules will be announced in the blog Saturday.

~ ~ ~

    On a final note, I'd like to personally thank all the wonderful folks at HP for making these technical difficulties possible.

Fly Like An Eagle II

Discussion today at The Gridiron Uniform Database has focused once again on the Philadelphia Eagles.      A couple weeks ago we brought you Tim Brulia's column on the 1941 Eagles' uniforms and today we'll be discussing some newer Eagles developments.

1977 Philadelphia at New England

1979 Philadelphia at Tampa Bay
(NFC Divisional Playoff)

1982 Washington at Philadelphia

     First of all, we discovered some discrepancies with the shoulder stripes in the 1974 through 1984 era uniforms.  During this period, the Eagles' uniforms were very intricate and tricky.  We already made one change to the pants' stripes on these uniforms two weeks ago, and now we've made another adjustment.

     It seems the 1979 stripe pattern in the database was incorrect, and after looking at each year, we think we've got the pattern down now.

1979 Updated

1979 Old

     The images to the left show the 1979 season specifically, but adjustments have been made to the whole era.

     Some more Eagles questions were brought to our attention by reader Pat Henderson, who contacted us through Paul Lukas of Uni Watch. 

     He alerted us to the differing logos the Eagles have used on the word mark on the front of the current jersey set which the Eagles debuted in 1996.  After some research we have determined that the Eagles word mark from 1996 through 2002 was a slanted 'Eagles' logo, while since 2003 they have used the newer Eagles logo.

1998 Eagles

      To be sure, this is an important detail that we want to get right, however at the size of our graphics (right), it really is going to be hard to discern much of a difference.  Like the change in the detail of the Denver Broncos helmet from 1992 to 1993, some changes are so small that they are really hard to denote in a project with the size of the images that we are using.  We are currently undergoing further discussions on this matter, and any further database changes will be unveiled here at the blog.

San Francisco at Philadelphia
(MNF, 11/10/1997)

'96 - Ricky Watters
sporting the Eagle
logo on his pants
that they only
had one year

     Pat also inquired about the logo that appeared on the side stripe on the green pants from 1996, as to whether or not it appeared on the 1997 and 1998 green pants.  As far as we can tell, the Eagles only wore the green pants a few times during these two years, on a Monday Night against San Francisco in 1997, and against the Packers and Giants in November 1998.  On these occasions, we have not seen the logo that they had in 1996.

    

What year exactly is
this a "throwback" to?

     If you have any further input on these or other uniform discrepancies you find in our database, be sure to join in on the fun in our forum.  Tomorrow, we will be looking at some sock stripe anomalies of the early 1980's Houston Oilers, and also some New York Jets throwback stuff that was possibly one of the least accurate "throwback" attempts ever.

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     Thanks to all of you who have voted so far in our first-ever "Best NFL Uniform of all-time" contest.  If you haven't voted yet, you can do so here.

They Were Red, After All

Over in our forum at The Gridiron Uniform Database I had recently questioned, based on a viewing of the 10/7/79 Bucs at Giants game, whether the stripes on the socks the Giants wore at home were red, as we have in the database, or if they were actually blue. I took a screencap, and to me the sock stripes looked as if they were blue.

     Especially when compared with the stripes they wore in the road game at Tampa Bay later in the season (left), I was sure the stripes in the earlier game at New York looked blue.   Larry Schmitt, our resident Giants expert in the forum, assured me the stripes were indeed red, and he provided a few pictures from some other Giants' home games from that year which showed them wearing the red-striped socks.  So we figured it was probably just distortion from the screenshot that made the stripes appear blue.

     But what if my eyes weren't deceiving me and the Giants for some reason had worn the blue striped socks in just that one game?  After all, they had started 0-5 and were looking to change their luck.  Phil Simms was making his first career start, maybe the Giants might have tried to change their luck by wearing different color socks in this game.  I decided to continue my research, and hope for a closer view of the socks at some point in the game.

     After a play ends, they usually zoom in on players, however, every shot seemed to be zooming in on players above the field of view that included the socks.  Then finally, midway through the third quarter, Simms got sacked, and a zoom-in shot of him showed some offensive linemen (and their socks) who were standing in the shot.  Son-of-a-gun! The socks were red!  It seems when you are watching a video, colors may appear distorted when it's not a clear shot.  These sock stripes are clearly red, but look at the picture at the top right of this blog and tell me that they don't look blue, I dare you!

     At any rate, my research did show that the fonts of the Giants may have not been entirely uniform.  It seems most of the players had a spaced-out serif-ed font like Simms, J.T. Turner (68) and Jim Clack (56) here (left)...

...while other players, like Punter Dave Jennings (13) and lineman Keith Van Horn (63), had a different font.
     I don't know if just a couple players warrants an addition or correction to the database, but I guess we'll see.

     Apparently the wearing of the right socks and starting a rookie quarterback worked because the 0-5 Giants defeated the surprisingly 5-0 Tampa Bay Bucs 17-14.  Simms got a standing ovation when he fell on the ball to run out the clock, something Joe Pisarcik had a little trouble with against the Eagles the previous November.

     ~ ~ ~

     Today we are starting a tournament where you can vote for your favorite NFL uniform of all time.  We have narrowed the entire panoply of NFL uniform history down to 128 particular uniforms, and each week you can vote on which of two uniforms you like better.  We will begin the tournament with four head to head first-round matchups (involving eight teams), and for the next sixteen weeks, each Monday we will unveil a new group to vote on.

     We selected 128 random images equally spread among the 32 teams, with some exceptions:  Most franchises have four entries, but some newer expansion franchises have less and some teams that have been around longer have a few extra, plus defunct franchises have a few entries as well.  

     After the first round of voting the winning entries will be seeded 1-64 based on margin of victory and votes received, however entries from the same franchise will be placed in opposite parts of the bracket so that entries from the same team will not face each other until it is impossible to do otherwise.

     So here is the first group:

     Matchup #1: 1998 Minnesota Vikings (purple/white) vs 1995 Indianapolis Colts (white/blue).  This style of Vikings uniform, purple jersey and white pants was worn from their inception in 1961 through the 2005 season.  The Colts tried out blue pants with their white jersey for three games in 1995. 

Matchup #1
	1998 Vikings
	1995 Colts

     Matchup #2: 1972 Miami Dolphins (white) vs 1983 Cleveland Browns (brown/orange).  The Dolphins went undefeated in this outfit, which they more or less wore from 1966 through 1979.  The Browns wore orange pants from 1975 through 1983, and this combo was their home jersey, although they did wear white at home occasionally during this era.

Matchup #2
	1972 Dolphins
	1983 Browns

     Matchup #3: 1971 Philadelphia Eagles (green/white helmets) vs 2003 Jacksonville Jaguars (black/black).  From 1970 to 73 the Eagles had this forgotten white helmet, and they weren't too good of a team during this era, while the Jaguars had a monochromatic all-black third uniform choice they wore from time to time from 2002 to 2007.

Matchup #3
	1971 Eagles
	2003 Jaguars

     Matchup #4: 1938 Chicago Bears (orange/navy) vs 2001 New England Patriots (blue/silver).  This Bears combo from the late 30's was worn from 1934 to 39 on teams that made it to two NFL Championship games, while this Patriots jersey has been worn by teams in the past decade that have won three Super Bowls.

Matchup #4
	1938 Bears
	2001 Patriots

     Well, there you have it...  Voting will be open on these matchups all week until next Monday when we'll have four more matchups to vote on.

Monochrome Is Monochrome, Even When It Is White

Today at The Gridiron Uniform Database, we are unveiling a change to the Kansas City Chiefs (and Dallas Texans) uniforms which we have very in-depthly been reviewing over the past week.  We have removed the outline on the nameplate letters from the years 1960 through 1972, as well as changing the belts to the white belts that they wore with the red pants from 1973 through 1988 (excluding the years 1982-86, which already had white belts in the database.) ~ ~ ~

1970 Kansas City Chiefs (old)

1970 Kansas City Chiefs (new)

     These changes only go through the 1988 season because from 1989 through 1999, the Chiefs did not wear the red pants, preferring to wear only white pants with both the home white and the red jersey.  This brings us to another topic that I'd like to address regarding Friday's Bills announcement, and that is the apparent omission of the blue pants from their new uniforms.

Which Chiefs pants do you like better with the white jersey?

    All of the leaked images we had seen had blue pants with the Bills' new white home uniform, and while the classic white-on-white look is a good one, the one aspect of the unveiling that I was looking forward to was the blue pants.  There has been some speculation that perhaps there will be blue pants and that they were just not displayed Friday night.  Hopefully that will turn out to be the case, as I pointed out earlier this week, I just really felt that look was a good look, especially in night games under the lights.  The shade of royal blue that the Bills used really just seemed to "pop" and I think it'll be a shame if the new Bills' unis only include white pants, leaving them only with the monochromatic white for their road unis.

    Many teams have worn both color and white pants with white jerseys throughout the years.  The Cardinals were exclusively a white-pants team until they started wearing red pants in 1990.  Same for the Bucs - they started wearing orange pants in 1992.  The Bears famously adopted dark pants in 1984 after wearing exclusively white pants for three decades.

     While white-with-color pants is a widely tried and well-executed uniform choice, the same cannot be said for the color-on-same-color monochromatic look.

     Who can forget the spectacle of the monochrome-red Arizona Cardinals on the final day of the 2003 season, when they came from behind and beat Minnesota 18-17 to knock the Vikings out of the playoffs and put Green Bay in?   In 1995 Sam Wyche wanted to outfit the Bucs in all-orange (he was overruled by the players) and the Bears and Dolphins have both tried the monochrome color looks in the last decade.  The Jets routinely wear both green and white pants with both the green and white tops, for equally monochrome and non-monochrome looks at will.

     Monochrome is monochrome, whether it is a color or white.  How come we excuse monochrome-white, but monochrome-color somehow is an anathema?

     Some teams, like the Browns and Colts, look good in the monochrome-white.  It's what we're used to seeing.  The Colts tried blue pants in 1995, and it only lasted three games.  Teams like the Bears and Chiefs, I think can look good either way.  The 2003 Vikings you see in the Arizona picture to the right, I think look better monochrome-white than they would have with purple pants, just because that's what we're used to seeing.  Other teams, like the Seahawks, look good in monochrome color, again because we're used to it.  Some Browns fans vehemently will argue that the white-on-white is the best look, while others prefer the orange pants of 1983 and some even like the brown pants.  (Although I wouldn't recommend trying an all-brown monochrome look.)

For some reason, this
monochrome looks okay...

...while this monochrome does not

     Therefore about the Bills' new duds?  I think they should strongly re-consider not having the blue pants.  They really looked good in the late 1970s and early 80s, and would look good in 2011, as well.  I have no problem with them keeping the mono-white look for maybe daytime road games, and reserving the white-top/blue-pants for night-time games only.  And hopefully they could avoid wearing the monochromatic blue look entirely.

Monochrome is monochrome, whether white or color

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     Now to announce two contests here at The Gridiron Uniform Database.  Starting tomorrow you can vote in our first all-time best NFL uniform contest.  Over the coming weeks and months, you will be able to vote for the best NFL uniform ever in a tournament-bracket style contest.  The first round will begin tomorrow with eight pairs of first-round matchups to vote for.

     And for a second contest, our 100th twitter follower will be in for a big surprise.  As of right now, we have 58 twitter followers, so follow us on twitter and maybe you'll be the big winner.

Bills Unveil Their New Uniforms

     Today Uni Watch and Gridiron Uniform Database historian Tim Brulia brings us his weekly column with a look at the new uniforms the Buffalo Bills unveiled last night:

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     I'm not normally one who praises or criticizes a team's unifoms. They are what they are and I usually pass judgement on them as they are a sign of the times. So, with that in mind, I will take a deeper look into the NFL's first overhaul of a uniform since the 2009 Lions.

     The Bills have changed everything except the cleats, which remain black.

     The helmet: The red shell is gone for the first time since 1983. The helmet returns to the white that was worn from 1962-1983. The charging blue buffalo with the red side streak (or as the press release calls it, a "red speed stripe") remains. The helmet stripes are blue/red/blue, with a razor thin navy blue between the red and blue stripes. Per the press release, the stripes will widen from the front to the back of the helmet. The face masks (re)turn from white to gray, following what seems to be a recent trend. The Bills website also says that the white helmet will have a special metallic flaking painted into the helmet to make the white "pop" in the direct sunlight or for a night game. Opinion? While I personally am not a fan of white helmets in general, this is OK as it will allow the logo to stand out, but it will also eliminate the convoluted stripe combo of the 2002-2010 helmet.


     The jerseys: The oddball jerseys of 2002-2010, which did everything but identify the team wearing them, have been ditched. In their place is a uniform that does hearken back to the early 1990's glory days. We'll start with the dark jerseys. A welcome change is a return to the royal blue after the odd - but then trendy - move to navy in 2002. The collar is a tri-color of navy/red/white. The numbers are standard block white with a double outline of red and then a razor thin navy. The TV numbers are on the shoulders and do not have the navy outline. The "sleeve" stripes are two white stripes with the same outline pattern as on the body numerals. The NOB's are the standard sans serif non-outlined white. Additionally, there are two team ID elements on the jersey; the "BILLS" wordmark below the neck and, following the Cardinals and Vikings lead, the right side Bills logo on the nape of the neck on the back, above the NOB. Opinion? This is a massive improvement on the previous set and is unmistakably Buffalo.

     The white jersey ditches the blue shoulder yoke of 02-10 lore and also hints of the glory years of the early 90's with a few twists found on the new blues. The white also has a tricolor collar with a red/navy/blue combo. The numbers (front, back and shoulders) are blue with a double outline of red and razor thin navy. The double sleeve stripes are blue with feather outlines of navy, then red. The NOB is a striaght sans serfied blue. The whiye jersey also features Bills ID's, with a blue "BILLS" wordmark on the front and the charging buffalo on the back of the neck above the NOB. Opinion? Like the blue jersey, a nice look returns to the Bills.

     The pants: If all is true with the unveiling, the Bills will only have a white pair of pants starting in 2011. While not getting a really good look at the trousers, it does appear that they will be white with side stripes of blue/red/blue. There is one major addition to the pants, the logo will appear on both hips, with a charging right buffalo on the right hip and a charging left buffalo on the left hip (requiring an L and an R detail from Bill!). Rather mundane, but a good fit with either jersey. Opinion? I happen to like dark pants as a nice compliment with either a white or dark jersey, but with a sorta retro look, I have no real problem with just the white set.

     The socks: Again, not getting a great look, but one nice item on the blue socks is that there will actually be stripes on the socks! The stripe pattern will be the same as on the sleeve stripes on the blue jerseys. There will also be white socks worn with the white jerseys. The stripes appear to have the pattern as the blue socks, with additional blue outlines. Opinion? Nothing to say for the white socks, but it is a nice touch to see stripes on the dark socks, becoming only the third team (Chicago, Kansas City) in the NFL with striped dark socks.

     To sum up, I do like the retro feel of the unis, with modern elements complimenting and not taking from the new look.    

~ ~ ~

     For further analysis of the Bills' new threads, check out Phil Hecken's column today at Uni Watch.  Tomorrow I'll be back with a discussion of white-on-white in the NFL and why the Bills felt the need to omit the blue pants from the new ensemble.

History of the Buffalo Bills Uniforms Part V

Today we are wrapping up our week-long look at the Buffalo Bills' past uniforms.  As you no doubt have heard by now, the Bills will be unveiling their new 2011 uniforms tonight.  Tomorrow at The Gridiron Uniform Database, we will be discussing the new uniforms and what we think of them. ~ ~ ~

     In 2002, the Bills changed their uniforms to a style that has been, to say the least, criticized roundly by fans, media and critics alike.  The new-look was a non-traditional look for the NFL, with the multi-colored panels and monochrome blue home unis.  The style was reminiscent of something you might see in the CFL -- which I guess is kind of ironic, considering the Bills have begun playing one game a year in Toronto in the last few years.

     The Bills never made the postseason wearing these uniforms -- their best season was a 9-7 mark in 2004, and overall they have gone 59-85 in these unis.

     So many will say good riddance to these "athletic aesthetic eyesores" as they bid adieu with tonight's unveiling.  Yesterday's poll showed that many of you agree with us that the 1962-73 and 1974-83 uniforms were the best -- over 80% of you voted for those two of the five.  Only one person voted for these most recent uniforms, and who knows, he was probably either under the age of thirty, or drunk, or both.

Mock-Up 1

Mock-up 2

     What will the new uniforms look like?  Well, thanks to a leaked Madden '11 game image and the internet, we seem to have a good handle on what is to come tonight.  Based on this image to the right, people have made mock-ups of what the new uniform will probably look like, but who knows maybe knowing that the Madden image would get leaked, they put out a red herring to put us on the wrong track.  At any rate, if the leaked images are correct, it looks like a return to the 1970s unis, with the white charging buffalo helmet and the blue pants.  They could do a lot worse than that.

Bills' current ('02-'10)
Monochromatic blue

"What-If" 1984

"What-If 1973"

     Well, we can't be for sure what will be unveiled until we see it, but we wouldn't be disappointed to see this uniform or maybe even something a little more outlandish -- our Bill Schaefer made a couple "what-ifs" based on if older Bills uniforms had tried to incorporate the monochromatic blue look that the '02-'10 uniforms used, but in the style of the older unis.  At any rate, I do hope the new unis pair the white home tops with the royal blue pants, like they wore through 1982, and get rid of the navy entirely.  Buffalo Bills' blue isn't a navy blue, it's a royal blue.

~ ~ ~

     So all eyes tonight will be on the Bills' unveiling and stay tuned here at The Gridiron Uniform Database where tomorrow our resident historian Tim Brulia will give his take on the new Buffalo duds, and in the coming days we'll be launching a couple contests here where you can win big!

That's a non sequitur

     On-going debate about future database changes is continuing in our forum, and as always, you're invited to participate.  Have any ideas or suggestions for future blog topics?   Drop us a note in the comments section below.

     In the mean time, I'm building a deck.