Back When A Bucs' Primetime Game Was Exciting

For those of you who watched the Bucs dismal performance on NFL Network against the Cowboys last night (not talking to those of you who have Time Warner or Bright House) it may seem like a long time since the Bucs played an exciting primetime game.  Earlier this year the Bucs beat the Colts on Monday Night Football, and while a win is a win (and was much better for Buccaneers' fans than the historical 2003 MNF collapse to the same Colts) it was a boring game.  But if we go back eleven years to a Monday Night game between the Bucs and the Rams, you will recall one of the most exciting primetime games in recent memory, as we go... "On This Day..." back to 2000:

"On This Day..."
On December 18, 2000, the Bucs and Rams played a thrilling Monday Night game, so good in fact, the fact that Dennis Miller was announcing it didn't even detract from it.  In the crowded NFC playoff chase, the two teams from the previous year's NFC Championship met in a game they both needed.  The winner would clinch a spot, while the loser would be in danger of missing the playoffs altogether.   Trailing 35-31, with under 2:00 to play, RB Warrick Dunn caught a screen pass and was wrapped up fifteen yards behind the line of scrimmage on a key third down and it seemed like the Bucs hopes were dwindling.  Just before being whistled down, however, Dunn lateralled the ball back to QB Shaun King who improbably ran thirty yards for a first down, and the Bucs drove down the field for the winning score.

The Bucs went on to miss a field goal on Christmas Eve at Lambeau Field the following week and had to settle for a wild card, where they lost to the Eagles, and the Rams beat the Saints the next week and made the playoffs anyway, but then lost to the Saints in the first round.  The Rams made it back to the Super Bowl the next year, losing to the Patriots, while the Bucs (after another wild card loss to the Eagles after the 2001 season, fired Tony Dungy and hired Jon Gruden and got their Lombardi trophy the following year.)  But for one exciting December night in 2000, these two teams played an epic MNF battle.

To read a complete recap of the game, click here.

We are proud to add this historic Monday Night football game from eleven years ago today to our matchup database.

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Speaking of yesterday's dismal Bucs-Cowboys game (well, dismal if you are a Bucs' fan anyway), what was up with the bias on the NFL Network's coverage?  While this was the fourth consecutive year that the Cowboys have been on NFLN's Saturday Night special broadcast, this was the first time the Bucs have ever been on NFL Network, I believe.  It would have been a perfect time for them to showcase the Bucs.  I know they are playing awful -- in the midst of a seven-game (now eight-game) losing streak, but that was no excuse for the bias-ness of the NFL Network's coverage.  Yesterday on their network they aired, leading up to the game: "America's Game: 1992 Cowboys", "America's Game: 1995 Cowboys", a replay of the Cowboys-49ers game from earlier this year, "Tom Landry: A Football Life", and Top Ten Dallas Cowboys of All-Time.   C'mon, is this a national network, or am I watching a local Dallas-Fort Worth station?  They could have at least mixed in an "America's Game: 2002 Buccaneers" instead of 10 straight hours of this Cowboys-love fest.  The game was all-Cowboys, at least they could have shown the Bucs a little love during the programming all day leading up to it.  Even FOX News thinks that violates equal time guidelines!  Even ESPN is less biased when showing a Red Sox-Yankees game!

And then to top it all off, they rubbed salt in the wound at halftime, the Bucs were trailing 28-0, and they put the Bucs' score not just as "0", but "00":

What, one "zero" wasn't enough?

The Problem With The Internet

The Problem With The Internet

by Rob Holecko

The problem with the internet is you can't always believe everything you see, even when the source is somewhat reputable.  Yesterday we unveiled a new feature here at The Gridiron Uniform Database called "On This Day..." where we will feature past games played on this calendar day from now through the Super Bowl.  In researching today's December 17 game, we were preparing the head-to-head matchup of the 1933 NFL Championship game, and in stumbling upon the Pro Football Hall of Fame's website we came upon this picture and caption to the right, purported to be the 12/17/33 NFL Championship game between the Giants and the Bears at Wrigley Field.

Not "On This Day..."

Not so fast, my friends!  After consulting with the other two-thirds of the staff, our Bill Schaefer and Tim Brulia told me that this picture is indeed not from that game.  The grandstands, they told me, indicates that that game appears to be at the Polo Grounds, therefore is it probably from the 11/19/33 regular season game between the same two teams.  After further research, I came across this contemporary picture from the Pittsburgh Press via Google News, that indicates that yes, the Bears did wear white in that game:

But what about the other picture?  Well apparently the folks at the Hall of Fame believe it is from the Championship Game, and because of that other people on the internet believe that it is true, and they blog about it, and the error gets compounded.  (Note: after the publishing of this article, Keith Yowell, author of 'Today In Pro Football History,' whose comment you can read below, updated his site and corrected the picture to the above actual image from the 1933 NFL Championship Game. Special thanks also to Tom Farley for bringing our research to Keith's attention. All any of us want is accuracy. Now if only the Pro Football HOF can correct their information, we'll be all set!).  

Nonetheless, as our research shows, the Bears did wear white in that game, and the picture from the HOF (and elsewhere) on the internet was not from that game.  It just goes to show that you shouldn't assume anything on the internet is entirely accurate without double-checking it yourself, no matter what the source is, even if it is the Pro Football Hall of Fame.  Here at the Gridiron Uniform Database, we'll always strive to bring you the most accurate facts and whenever we do uncover new information, we'll bring it to you and update accordingly.

Speaking of which, sometime in the new future, we'll be bringing you some new discoveries about these mid-1930s Giants, thanks to our head researcher Tim Bruilia, working with "bigbluelarry", our friend Larry Schmitt.  Without further ado, the "On This Day..."

On This Day...

The NFL split into Eastern and Western divisions in 1933 and the Chicago Bears and the New York Giants were the division champions and met in the first ever scheduled Championship game on December 17.  These teams met in November, the aforementioned game at the Polo Grounds, which the Giants won 3-0.  This rematch was an exciting game full of trick plays and exciting action with players such as Bronco Nagurski and Red Grange, and the Bears held on to win 23-21 and claim their third NFL title.  You can read in-depth write-ups of the game here, here and here (just remember the pictures may not be from the correct game!)

Both of these 1933 Giants-Bears matchups have been added to our 'matchups database,' and if there is a game you'd like to see in there that hasn't been added yet, let us know and we'll get to it. We'll be back tomorrow with another past NFL matchup, another game with an exciting memorable lateral and what a surprise, it features the Buccaneers again! 

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..."

Week 13 Uniform Rankings

 

 

Week 13 Uniform Rankings

by Tim Brulia

 

Week 13 brings a bit of a monochrome outbreak and a throwback. So, let's get to it.

Eagles-Seahawks: Eagles bring us the white/green combo and the Seahawks in standard monochrome quasi-blue. It seems to bring out the green tincture in the Seahawks combo. Seasick, perhaps?

Panthers-Buccaneers: Panthers in white/white and the Bucs in their homage to the creamsicles, the orange-peach/white throwback combo, including white cleats. This is the third year in a row the Bucs have rocked their pre-1997 look. And that's just about right. It was a rather unique - and fun - look for its day, but they sport red and pewter now. Nicely done, but the hint of peach in the throwbacks is a little odd.

Bengals-Steelers: Bengals in white/white against the Steelers in standard black/yellow. Good that the Bengals didn't choose to rock their black slacks with the white jersey. Nice look.

Falcons-Texans: Falcons in mono-white and the Texans in mono dark blue. Nice for the change of pace Texans, but just a little touch of red (socks) would have really brightened the occasion.

Jets-Redskins: Jets go white/green and the Skins look like they've put the yellow pants back in the trunk as they rock the burgundy/white look. This is a nice batch of colors, though.

Titans-Bills: Titans in white/columbia blue and the Bills go with blue/white. Lotta blue at play here. But since there are the three shades (light, royal, navy) working, it does blend rather well.

Colts-Patriots: Colts in mono-white with the Pats in navy/silver. A rather common sight in recent years, so I'm not that worked up about this uni-matchup.

Raiders-Dolphins: Raiders in black/silver and if the Dolphins are going mono-white instead of white/aqua, it must mean Miami is at home this week. Correct. And alas, this one slips down the pole.

Broncos-Vikings: Another mono-white team (Denver) going against a purple/white side. The slivers of orange (Broncs) trim and yellow (Vikes) trim help some, but not enough to keep this uni matchup from the lower rung.

Chiefs-Bears: Took awhile, but the Chiefs rocked mono-white for the first time this season. Blah. The Bears in their conventional navy-white home duds help, but not enough.

Ravens-Browns: Ravens take charge in purple/white against the Browns in white/white, which they will likely wear all season long, unless - out of the...um...brown they shock us all with brown pants.

Rams-49ers: Somehow, I find this matchup as nice as any this week. Rams go white/blue while the Niners wear red/gold. For the Rams, who have a choice of three pairs of pants at all times in 2011, they made the right choice this week. Bleds well with the Niner red and gold. I actually think it makes the red much brighter.

Cowboys-Cardinals: Cowboys in standard white/quasi-silver and yes, friends, Big Red goes all red! First time for the red pants this season and I guess it's better late than never. I like this one.

Packers-Giants: Classic look for classic teams. Pack in white/yellow and G-Men in blue/home gray. A lot of colors here and I always love me some colors; green, yellow, white, red, blue, gray. Sweet.

Lions-Saints: Lions in white/silver and the Saints go marching in mono black. And that makes more of a contrast than had NO gone black/gold on us. This matchup isn't for the faint of heart, but I dig it, mama.

Chargers-Jaguars: Chargers in white/navy and the Jags in teal/white. Somehow, this one works for me. Nothing splashy, but enough variance to be enjoyable.

So then, I rank them from bottom to the top this week like so:

16) Colts-Patriots

15) Broncos-Vikings

14) Raiders-Dolphins

13) Eagles-Seahawks

12) Chiefs-Bears

11) Ravens-Browns

10) Titans-Bills

9) Bengals-Steelers

8) Chargers-Jaguars

7) Falcons-Texans

6) Jets-Redskins

5) Panthers-Buccaneers

4) Lions-Saints

3) Cardinals-Cowboys

2) Rams-49ers

1) Packers-Giants

Before I close, just thing to keep in mind. Teams MUST submit jersey color to the Commissioner's Office by July 1 each year for all preseason and regular season games. There are no rules regarding pant colors, so while we may know what team will wear what color jersey ahead of time, we don't necessarily know about the pants.

Take care and see you next time.

Week 12 Uniform Rankings

 

Week 12 Uniform Rankings

by Tim Brulia

 

Couple of notes:

1) I guess the word that there would be no alternates or throwbacks after week 10 proved to be bogus. There were three such games this weekend.

2) As we get late into the season, there will be some matchups that were seen earlier in the season. What may have been eye candy for me earlier may now be a serious eye sore today. So, if you say to me, "Gosh, you had this (uni) matchup at #2 in Week 3, and this week you have the same exact uni at #14 this week???," I do say that these are decisions made on the cuff. It's all in fun and it's just my opinion. No more, no less.

3) For the second time this season, it's all dark at home. And considering at least one of the teams involved, that's a bit of big news.

So let's not waste any more of your time.

Packers-Lions: Ahh, yes. The traditional Thanksgiving Day lid lifter. Normally the time (in recent years, anyway) when the Lions show off the plain, vintage and popular throwbacks from the early 50's. But today, the Lions and their opponents keep the 2011 look. Packers in white/yellow and Lions in honolulu blue/silver. And while the current look may have sent a few groans out to the turkey-fed masses, it really wasn't a bad thing.

Dolphins-Cowboys: Well, for the second game of the Turkey Day tripleheader, the Cowboys went to their once or twice annual homage to the 1960-1963 Cowboys, the dark blue/white throwback combo. A nice little break from the constant white at home. Which means the visiting Dolphins sported white/aqua, which as you may know, is a look that suits the Fish better than the all white they wear at home. Winning!

49ers-Ravens: The third of three on T-Day. The Harbaugh Bowl to most, but to me, a Uni matchup. Niners in white/gold and the Ravens in the alternate black jersey, with white pants this time. The black works here and the Niners red trim on the jersey and pants provides a subtle, but pleasant contrast. Not bad.

Texans-Jaguars: White/navy for the Tex and teal/white for the Jags. I'm glad the teal is showing in its glory here. This is nice, but I'll say it again, wish the Texans would bring back the red socks for this combo. OK, but could be better.

Bills-Jets: A few weeks ago, the Bills wore white at home against the Jets and started to wear the blue socks with the white. They continue that trend here. And the Jets wore all green for that game. Here, they are in green/white at home. Looks like something from the 1963-1972 years, sorta. Lots of AFL white to go around.

Browns-Bengals: The battle of Ohio is loaded with orange and white and black/brown. The trend continues. Browns in the ever present white/white and the Bengals in the black/white. It's good that the Bengals didn't break out the orange jerseys, would've been too much. But it would have been neat if Cincy tore out the black pants and/or the orange socks. But it is what it is (Haven't heard that 2006 mantra in awhile!).

Vikings-Falcons: Vikes in white/white and the Falcons in red/white. Man, if - just if - the Vikes would have resurrected the grape pants, this would've skyrocketed into an awesome uni matchup. But still, it's a good contrast of red, black, purple, yellow. I like it.

Cardinals-Rams: Big Red continue to go white/white and the Rams revert to blue/gold. In this case, probably the best look for Saint Lou against an all white squad. The Rams combo helps what could have been big Meh into hmm, not bad.

Panthers-Colts: Panthers in white/white with the Colts in blue/white. This one doesn't work for me much. I know it can't be helped, but maybe the Panthers calling out the silver pants would have sent a slight jolt to the system.

Buccaneers-Titans: Bucs go for white/pewter and the Titans in the two-tone blue (light/dark). And this one is very nice. Contrasting jersey and pants from both teams will please these coke-bottle enhanced eyes every time.

Bears-Raiders: Two of the more traditional look teams in the NFL. Bears in white/navy and the Raiders in black/silver. Boy for some reason, even though this is a familiar look for both clubs, I think when paired together, it's a dandy sight.

Redskins-Seahawks: Skins again leave the yellow trousers behind nad that actually helped this matchup with the Seahawks in their perpetual all quasi-blue, which they have worn 7 out of 11 games so far this season. I do think it's time to trot out the white pants with these jerseys.

Broncos-Chargers: Broncos in the white/white and the Chargers, at last, rock the powder blues! The jerseys that virtually the whole world wants, but will probably never get. So, I guess that makes their rarity all the more special. So, on that alone, in spite of the rather yawn inducing Bronco togs, this matchup gets style points aplenty.

Patriots-Eagles: Reminding one of their Super Bowl XXXIX encounter, this is a very nice looking matchup. Pats in the white/navy and Birds in the green/white. It's a fine game of contrasts.

Steelers-Chiefs: Very much the traditional look. Steelers in white/yellow, Chiefs in the red/white. No surprises whatsoever here and truthfully, none needed. Black, red, yellow and white working well together.

Giants-Saints: Giants in the white/road gray and the Saints, for the first time in '11, rock the New Zealand rugby look (all blacks). Hated by some, the all-black look of the Saints is simply, a heckuva lotta fun for this observer. It just delivers. And the G-Men in the white/gray offsets the sleekness of NO's combo nicely.

So then, the lineup from top to bottom for Week 12:

1) Dolphins-Cowboys

2) Broncos-Chargers

3) Buccaneers-Titans

4) Giants-Saints

5) Bears-Raiders

6) Packers-Lions

7) Patriots-Eagles

8) Steelers-Chiefs

9) Vikings-Falcons

10) Cardinals-Rams

11) Redskins-Seahawks

12) 49ers-Ravens

13) Bills-Jets

14) Texans-Jaguars

15) Browns-Bengals

16) Panthers-Colts

See ya next week!

Happy Thankgiving & Week 11 Uniform Rankings

Here at The Gridiron Uniform Database, we hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving.  In a moment, Tim's review of last week's uni-matchups.  Speaking of Thanksgiving matchups, we we're all disappointed that the Lions didn't wear their throwbacks yesterday, but the Cowboys made up for it by wearing their throwbacks, proving once and for all that the "no throwbacks or alts after Week 10" rule hasn't been adopted by the NFL (unless there is a "Thanksgiving Day exception")  As far as we know, however, the Bucs are still planning on wearing the Creamsicles on December 4 against Carolina, and we also wouldn't mind seeing "Pat the Patriot" once more this year. 

   

The Cowboys did wear the Thanksgiving throwback they have been sporting in recent years, however I personally would have rather seen this throwback featured to the left.  Also we're thankful that the Ravens went with white pants with their Black alts, choosing to eschew the "head-to-toe" black look that doesn't look good on the Saints, let alone the Ravens.
 

Our Bill Schaefer came up with a "What If..." tweak -- what if the Lions used the darker shade of Blue in their logo on their uniforms instead of the Honolulu blue?  Bill writes, "How much better would the Lions look if they used the same blue of their field logo and end zone script?  (Maybe if they were playing outdoors on grass it would even look better yet! -RH) This is a quick mock-up done on spur of the moment using dark blue like the Lions used back in late 60s and into the 70s." Here's what Bill came up with:

And one more thing, the 2010 head-to-head matchups are all on the website!  You can easily view them by going to the new 2010 past season index page in the index (linked on the front page to the right of the 2011 weeks listed below the web counter) There you will now find "Weekly Indexes", "Past Team Indexes" and the recently added "Past Season Indexes."  While we do intend on eventually having all of the 'Weekly' and 'Team' indexes completed and on the website, as we've said before, our priority is first getting all of the head-to-head matchups on the site.  So we will be adding "Past Season Index" pages in order to make it easy to find all past season matchups.  So next onto 2009...  (We plan on doing them in reverse chronological order, i.e. 2009, 2008, etc, however if there is a particular past matchup [like this, this, this or this] you would like to see the artwork for, just let us know - either in the comments below, in the forum or by email or twitter.)

Also in the next day, some major database updates, including some AAFC revamps and some other recent changes involving two of our favorite words here at The Gridiron Uniform Database: socks and durene.  

Now onto the Week 11 Uniform Rankings:

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Week 11 Uniform Rankings

by Tim Brulia

It's time to review the Week 11 uni matchups. If sources are correct, we may not be seeing any more alternates or throwbacks this season. We definitely didn't see any this week. Having said that, we may still see off the cuff combos as the pants hold the key to what could be some rarely seen combos. Stay tuned.

Jets-Broncos: What I said. Jets in white/white, BUT with green socks. Something we haven't seen in four years! Broncos in the rare navy/navy combo. Score one for the unexpected! A very nice and colorful look.

Buccaneers-Packers: Bucs trot out the white/pewter garb and the Pack in the normal and effective green/yellow. Bucs go to the pewter and it works well against the Packer fare. A fine matchup.

Panthers-Lions: A battle of the felines that is also a bit of a battle of the silvers and blues. Panthers go with the white/white and the Lions rock the Honolulu blue/silver. A slightly underwhelming matchup.

Jaguars-Browns: Jags in the teal/white combo and the Browns in the ever present white/white. This nice as the Jags wearing teal, no matter how stretchy and bland the design is, always score style points when the teal is used. Browns keeping the all-white streak perfect thus far for the 2011 regular season.

Raiders-Vikings: Raider in standard white/silver with the Vikes going purple/white. Nothing exciting, but it's actually a decent looking matchup.

Bills-Dolphins: The slumping Bills in blue/white and the Dolphins in the home white/whites. Oh, how I yearn for the Fish to bust out and flash those aqua trousers at home! Too much white (helmet, pants) for my fancy.

Cowboys-Redskins: In the Joe Gibbs days, we would've seen the Cowboys in their blue jerseys and it would have been one of the nicer looking games. But this is 2011 and the Skins wear burgundy for the home games. And they also wore the white pants, too. Cowboys in white/silver blue green. It does remind me of those old Cowboy-Redskin shootouts...in Irving. I would've preferred the Skins in yellow pants (or possibly burgundy?), but this is a nice one anyway.

Bengals-Ravens: Aha! Bengals go with the white over black and the Ravens go with purple/white. Nice! Loads better than had Cincy broke out the white/white look. Kudos to the Bengals for making this one better.

Cardinals-49ers: And again the Big Red fail us with the white/white look. Niners in the usual red/gold. Might have been a lot of red if the Cardinals had indeed wore red pants, but it would have a bold and better move.

Seahawks-Rams: Seattle in white/white, with the Rams in blue/blue, making this their most worn combo so far this season. I do like this one. But it's not grabbing me like it did when StL wore all blue last week. Too much blue, when the Seahawks are included, maybe?

Titans-Falcons: This one leaves a good taste in my mouth. Titans in white/columbia blue and the Falcs in red/white. A lot of nice and different colors in the palette here. Thumbs up!

Chargers-Bears: Bolts in white/navy and the Bears in navy/white. Another one where, for whatever reason, 2 + 2 = 5. These are nice unis worn by both teams, but when they are united, just aren't working for me. We'll see how they stand when I rank them. They might get away with it!

Eagles-Giants: Another NFC East matchup. Gotta say this about this division. They all wear quite colorful unis. Eagles in white/green and the Giants in blue/gray. Simple, yet effective.

Chiefs-Patriots: Chiefs, thankfully, resisting the temptation to go all white so far in 2011. KC keeps the very nice white/red combo intact and the Pats in their normal blue/silver combo. Nice looking matchup.

And with that, here's how I rank the above from top to bottom:

1) Titans-Falcons

2) Jets-Broncos

3) Bengals-Ravens

4) Eagles-Giants

5) Cowboys-Redskins

6) Buccaneers-Packers

7) Chiefs-Patriots

8) Seahawks-Rams

9) Jaguars-Browns

10) Chargers-Bears

11) Raiders-Vikings

12) Cardinals-49ers

13) Panthers-Lions

14) Bills-Dolphins

Week 10 Uniform Rankings

Week 10 Uniform Rankings
by Tim Brulia

(ed. note: we apologize for the delay in not getting this Uniform Rankings Post up sooner -RH)

We now enter the second half of the season, punctuated by the start-up of the Thursday Night games. If what the NFL said before the season is true, then we are likely not to see the Chargers' powder blues this season. We also had a slight surprise with white at home this week...then again, maybe not. Anyway,

Raiders-Chargers: No surprises, though as we mentioned, it is now not too likely that we'll see SD in the powder blues for 2011. Traditional matchup with the Raiders trotting out white/silver and the Chargers in navy/white.  (Yes if they can't wear powder blues for a prime-time home game, they I don't see it happening. -RH)

Cardinals-Eagles: Again, a couple of NFL old-liners and again, a missed opportunity by the Cardinals to rock red pants with the white jerseys. So they elect to go white/white and the Eagles stay true with green/white. Meh, could have been more.

Bills-Cowboys: Bills looking good in the blue/white with Big D staying true to form in white/quasi-silver. Actually a nice matchup.

Broncos-Chiefs: Another traditional one, with the Broncos going white/white against the Chiefs in the bright red/white uni. Just a little too much white for this old soul to deal with.

This combo is Rob's favorite
Bucs' combo as well.

Texans-Buccaneers: The Texans rock the white/navy while the Bucs sparkle with the red/white. My flavor today is that red/white works better than red/pewter. I think it brightens up the red.

Jaguars-Colts: White/black go the Jags and blue/white go the Colts. The Jags black pants help this matchup more than had they dressed up in all white. Still, not a real eye pleaser.

Saints-Falcons: Saints going white/black and the Falcs rock the black/white throwbacks. Hmm. I think from a color viewpoint, I would have stayed with the red/white look if I were the Falcons. And normally I would have preferred NO's black pants, but I think the gold pants might have worked a little better here. Not a bad matchup, but I think less might have actually been better here.

Steelers-Bengals: Steelers working the white/yellow get up with the Bengals in black/white. Yes, this works. No black/black for Cincy and I'm glad. Would have been just a little too strong if they had.

Rams-Browns: Rams all blue and Browns all white. I actually like this matchup of extremes. Rams did the right thing with the all blue, more than offsets the Browns all white. Plus the orange helmet just adds a spike of contrast that makes this games work,

Titans-Panthers: Titans in white/columbia blue and, for the first time this season, the Panthers bring out the black/silver look. And ya know what? it works! Had the Panthers brought out carolina blue or white, it would have been a little too blue for me. Winning, in my opinion.

Redskins-Dolphins: We know the Fish like to go all white at home. But, we didn't know that the Skins would go white panted instead of yellow. Too much white and drops this matchup significant notches.

Ravens-Seahawks: Ravens go white/white (Steeler success??) as the Seahawks go with standard quasi-blue/quasi-blue. It is a plus that the Ravens went all white as I think the black pants would not have added anything here. (Muttering) Just wish the 'Hawks would show us the almost never worn navy pants here. I would've given Seattle extra credit!

Lions-Bears: Lions with standard white/silver and the Bears dress up in alternate orange/white. Bears get a lot of groans from rock hard traditionalists for the orange jerseys, but I happen to dig them. Plus you keep the navy helmet and socks, and really, what's the problem? I like it!

This didn't get higher than #8?

Giants-49ers: NY goes white/away gray and Niners of course in red/gold. Somehow, I like this one. Just a little too much red for me, maybe the G-Men in blue socks would have been the spark that would really worked for me. As it is, it is still a nice matchup.

Patriots-Jets: The Jets go white at home (white at home), a nice - er - surprise? Then again, maybe not. The Jets breakout white at home maybe once or twice a season. But, per our white at home research, this makes 4 of the last 5 years that the Patriots (blue/silver) have been the opponent for the Jets' white at home efforts. Had the Jets gone with green trousers, the bonus points would have added up. Too bad.

Vikings-Packers: Vikes go all white and the Pack in the standard green/yellow. Vikes seldom trot out the purple pants anymore and boy, this would have added some big style points. But, no. The Packers' green just adds notches no matter who they play.


So, here are the rankings from the bottom to the top for Week 10:

16) Jaguars-Colts (Boy, 0-10 and worst uniform rankings of the week, too?!)
15) Raiders-Chargers
14) Broncos-Chiefs
13) Redskins-Dolphins
12) Ravens-Seahawks
11) Cardinals-Eagles
10) Saints-Falcons
9) Patriots-Jets
8) Giants-49ers
7) Steelers-Bengals
6) Bills-Cowboys
5) Texans-Buccaneers
4) Vikings-Packers
3) Lions-Bears
2) Titans-Panthers
1) Rams-Browns

Week 9 Uniform Rankings

Before we get to Tim's rankings, we here at The Gridiron Uniform Database want to unveil a new feature that we told you about earlier this week, and that is the beginning of the addition to the database of the yearly week-by-week uniform displays.  If you'll notice on the main front page, the team names are now clickable, and you can click on them and see the teams uniforms for the year on a week-by-week basis.  You can also access this page by clicking on the "Index" link to the right of the weeks, where you'll see a new section entitled "Historical Teams Week-by-Week Index."  When looking at the 2011 teams, you'll notice that the AFC teams have a little more information than the NFC teams.  As were putting in the information, we decided to eliminate that part of it for now, as our goal is to get the information onto the website as fast as possible.  We intend on adding the 2010 weekly team schedules next week, and adding a year each week as we go forward.  We hope you enjoy this new feature of our website!

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Week 9 Uniform Rankings
by Tim Brulia

Hi, all. My apologies for the tardiness of this week's installments. Without further adieu...

Falcons-Colts: Falcons in the white/white look and the (now) hapless Colts in the normal blue/white get up. Nothing unusual or really exciting about this one. I think the Falcons still have black pants in their closet. That would have helped here.

Browns-Texans: Browns continue to go white/white as the Texans whip out their dark blue/white kit. Again, nothing exciting, but it's not all that bad.

Dolphins-Chiefs: Again, no surprises. But, this is a nice one. Shows what a nice little boost a pair of dark pants provides a uni matchup. If this game were at Miami, it would have been much more dull. With the Fish in white/aqua and the Chiefs in red/white, this is a goody.

Jets-Bills: This one was a pleasant surprise. The Bills decided to go white at home for the first time since October 19, 1986. A span of 25 years. Why? Who knows and who cares? It was an interesting change for sure, and the Jets made the occasion a little better by including their green pants for a green/green combo. While it was rumored in uni circles that the Bills would show off some blue pants, they stayed with a white/white look. But the Bills put a twist on the occasion with the blue socks that are normally worn with the blue jersey. It worked well.

49ers-Redskins: Niners in the white/gold combination while the Redskins went with the yellow pants to go with the burgundy tops. Interesting variations on a burgundy/red and a yellow/gold basis. Not flashy, but I like it.

Seahawks-Cowboys: Of course, with the Cowboys at home, they go white/quasi-silver which make the Seahawks go quasi-blue/quasi-blue. Not really a bad uni match up, but it's one I can't get all that worked up over.

Buccaneers-Saints: Bucs go with white/white here, but they story is that the Saints breakout the 1967 throwbacks for aseconf time this season and the "metal" colors compliment each other. The pewter, the (various shades of) gold, the black, etc. with a hint of Buccaneer red. It works nicely.

Bengals-Titans: In the mid-2000's, these teams would mix and match so often, that this encounter could have been a whole explosion of color. But these have toned it down a little, so what was worn (Bengals in white/white, Titans in columbiablue/navy blue) was not an unexpected jolt. And actually, the Bengals going all white probably worked better than had they worn their black pants for this one.

Broncos-Raiders: Absolutely no surprises here. Broncos in white/white with the Raiders in black/silver. Not bad, but not the best, either.

Packers-Chargers: Chargers going back to dark at home (navy/white). Not a good time to do so as it forced the Packers to go with white/yellow. Always a tad disappointing when the Chargers nix the powder blues, but this is what we have and it's just OK.

Giants-Patriots: Hearkens back to that Super Bowl XLII matchup. Giants in white/gray and the Pats in dark blue/silver. Lots of silver/gray, lots of blue and lots of red. 

Rams-Cardinals: Rams with about every combo possible this season. Their 7th. In the white/gold look and the Cardinals rocking their black alternate jersey with the white pants. Would have been quite interesting and amusing if the Big Red would have trotted out their red pants for the occasion. This was still a nice little matchup here.

Ravens-Steelers: Ravens keep the black pants at home, which did surprise me, to go white/white while the Steelers pulled out their early 1960's throwbacks. I do like to see them once in a while, the yellow helmet/black jersey with 100% yellow trim and the white pants. Alas for the Steelers, the throwbacks did not faze Flacco and his crew as they pulled out a thriller.

Bears-Eagles: Nice color matchup provided by two of the NFL's old guard. Bears in white/navy and the Eagles in the green/white. Smart look by both teams without even trying.

And so, the countdown:

14) Falcons-Colts

13) Seahawks-Cowboys

12) Giants-Patriots

11) Broncos-Raiders

10) Browns-Texans

9) Packers-Chargers

8) Ravens-Steelers

7) Buccaneers-Saints

6) Rams-Cardinals

5) 49ers-Redskins

4) Bengals-Titans

3) Bears-Eagles

2) Dolphins-Chiefs

1) Jets-Bills

If You Hear Hooves, It May Be Zebras After All

NFL Game Officials Uniforms

by Tim Brulia

In most every single team sport (volleyball and water polo are the only exceptions I can think of), there are not two but THREE teams on the playing surface. The two competing teams, and the officials.

In every historical uniform database that I am aware of, no description or graphic portrayal exists of the uniform history of a sport's officials' uniform through the years...until now.

The Gridiron Uniform Database is pleased to present the newest addition to our research findings, a descriptive chronological history of Game Officials uniforms of the National Football League, All-America Football Conference and American Football League from the very beginning (1920) to today. You can find the chronology under the research tab at the top of the Gridiron Uniform Database's main page.

The chronology lists the years when major changes occurred to the unis as well as when any change, however minor, occurred to the uniform. We also include the details of the AFL's officials and the AAFC's officials uniforms as well.

We also include the four occurrences of memorial armbands that were worn by NFL officials.

We even include special patches and special occasion uniforms by the refs over the years.

A couple of "Did You Know's?" to whet your appetite...

1) Did you know that for the first 27 years of the NFL, a ref didn't have to wear a cap if he didn't want to?

2) Did you know that for Super Bowls I and II, the combined NFL-AFL officiating crews wore a special uniform?

There's many more little tidbits like that throughout the research. Please take a look!

And as always, please alert us at the Gridiron Uniform Database if you spot any errors or something else we may have missed, either by email or on our forum.

Enjoy!

The Monday Rob #1

The Gridiron Uniform Database Blog
The Monday Rob #1

by Rob Holecko

I have heard from many of you that you miss the articles that the Gridiron Uniform Database blog presented earlier this year, after the launch of our impressive site this summer.  While I appreciate the comments and kind words, producing a worthy blog article every day did take a lot of time, spare time which I just haven't had to devote to the website after the academic year started back up again.  Also, during the first few months of this site, there were many changes and corrections to the database that provided a lot of content for the blog, content that somewhat dried up as many of those changes have been completed, leaving daily blog updates somewhat unnecessary.

But due to popular demand, we have decided to debut here today a new Monday column that will run every week called "The Monday Rob."  It will give me a weekly opportunity to cover the type of material that I used to bring daily in the blog, such as new developments here at the Gridiron Uniform Database, and a weekly "rundown" of the NFL uniform news of the weekend.  Tim Brulia will continue to bring his weekly uniform rankings, Vilk-style, later in the week.

This new weekly format will afford us the opportunity to keep everyone up to date with what's been going on around here, without the time commitment of a daily report.  With the limited spare time that I have had to devote to the Gridiron Uniform Database, I frankly thought it was a better use of that time to devote it to working on the database itself than on daily blog entries.

While from the front page of the database you can easily view all of the yearly team images from 1933 to 2010, either by year, or by team, our next goal is for our visitors to be able to view what uniform was worn in every single matchup in NFL history.

With limited time to work on this, it has been a slow process for us.  We have begun to add the matchups to the site week-by-week, from the present going backwards, however, so far we currently have only completed the weekly pages back through Week 13 of last year.  While we will continue to do these on a week-by-week basis as time permits, we have come to realize that it is a priority of ours to get this data on the website much sooner.  To that end, on Friday of this week, November 11, we will be debuting a new feature here in the database which will greatly speed up this process that I hope everyone will enjoy.

Another new feature that we have added recently is on the research tab, you'll see a text-based breakdown of the uniforms worn in the Pro Bowls through the years prepared by our chief historian Tim Brulia.  While it was a text-based document like that of the NFL teams that eventually lead to our Bill Schaefer creating the images that now make up the Gridiron Uniform Database, and we currently have no immediate plans to add graphics of these Pro Bowl uniforms to our database, we do have more new research that we will be adding to the research tab in the coming days, so stay tuned.

Speaking of additional research, Tim also recently completed another trip to the Library of Congress in Washington and we will be adding that research, focusing on the AAFC, in the near future as well.

You also may have noticed that we have spruced up the graphics around here a few weeks ago.  We just wanted to give a little recognition for the new look, our new banners are the wonderful work of Mark Young, whom we (Bill, Tim and myself) give our wholehearted thanks to!

Without further ado, here is the weekly round-up...

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Weekly Roundup
The Bills wore white at home yesterday for the first time in 25 years to "whiteout" their game against the Jets, however, we didn't realize until it was pointed out by "Wheels" in the Uni Watch comments that they were wearing their "home" blue socks that they have worn with the blue uniforms in the previous home games, and not the ones they wore with the their white unis on the road.  The Jets pleased those of us who like to see contrasting pants matchups as well as jerseys, even though it made them look like this.   Counting the unique 9-11 ribbon combo they wore in Week 1 against the Cowboys, and the throwbacks they wore Week 2 against the Jaguars, the all-green Sunday is their sixth different uniform combo this year.  They are outdone only by the Rams, who wore their seventh different uniform combo in eight games Sunday against the Cardinals when they donned their white-over-golds.  Only the blue-over-white combo which they wore in Weeks 4 and 7, have they worn more than once.  Their opponent Cardinals wore their black alts, and it must have done them good as they blocked a Rams game-winning field goal attempt at the end of regulation and won on a 99-yard punt return in overtime.  It was their first win ever in the black uniforms, they are now 1-3, with losses last year to the Bucs and 49ers and earlier this year to the Giants.  

We are now in November and the cooler weather means it is the time of the year when the warm weather teams like the Bucs and Chargers that traditionally wear white in the heat of summer transition to the colors.  While last week, the primary white at home teams the Browns and Cowboys, were both on the road, it gave us for the first time this year, a week with no teams wearing white at home at all, as Tim pointed out.  With the Bills white-out and the Cowboys back at home, the early season WAH Chargers wore their blue uniforms for the first time this year against the Packers.   The Steelers and the Saints both wore their throwbacks yesterday against mono-white opponents, and the Saints won, however it may be good karma for the Bucs, as the last time the Bucs lost to the Saints in the their throwbacks, on Dec. 2, 2002, they went on to win the Super Bowl.  This was the second time the Saints wore their throwbacks this year.

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We'll see you in a few days with Tim's Weekly Rankings, and don't forget Thursday Night Football starts this week!

Week 8 Uniform Rankings

Week 8 Uniform Rankings

by Tim Brulia

 

For the first time this season, we saw all home teams wearing dark at home. In my opinion, this was the best week of uni matchups so far this season. And here we go:

 

Cardinals-Ravens: The all white of the Cardinals against the purple/white of the "angry birds." Not a bad matchup, really, but I think it would have neat to see at least one of these guys in dark pants, preferrably the Cardinals.

 

Colts-Titans: This AFC South tilt featured no real surprises, Colts in all white and the Titans int their now customary cool/cold weather home design of columbia blue/dark blue combo. At least the Titans kept the white to just the helmet. Average matchup.

 

Jaguars-Texans: Another AFC South game with the Jags in the now familiar white/black combo. And it seems like when the Texans host the Jags, it's in the "battle red" combo (red/red). Er, not quite. Tex is going with the white pants this year. But the battle red socks make an appearance. Used to be the Texans would wear their red socks with the deep blue pants. Nice to see them here, but wish they'd bring them back for more than "battle red". But this is a nice change of pace for Tex.

 

Dolphins-Giants: The Fish in the white/aqua combo with the Giants in customary blue/gray. Interesting matchup, though nothing unusual, really.

 

Vikings-Panthers: Vikes in the all white combo, with the Panthers - 2 weeks in a row! - in the alternate Carolina blue/silver combo. If the Vikes would have done the right thing and wore purple pants for this one, I think it may have been the game of the year (uni-wise). But alas,...

 

Saints-Rams: Saints avoid the black pants again, but it is still a bit early. Rams trot out - I believe - their sixth combo of the year with the retro 1973-1999 classic, still a popular combo with many of you. And of course, the Rams pull off their first win of 2011. Hmm. Nice matchup.

 

Lions-Broncos: Lions in a look that has stood the test of time with the white/silver combo and the Broncs in the orange/white. While the orange jersey is likely to be worn for the last time this season, it will return as THE home jersey for the Broncos next season. And that IS a good thing.

 

Redskins-Bills: Boy is this a nice looking game! 'Skins in the white/yellow get up with the Bills rocking the crisp blue/wjite combo, with the "Toronto" patch for effect as this game was played at Rogers Centre. But everything works well here. The colors just seem to pop here. A dandy look!

 

Bengals-Seahawks: Bengals get out the white/black combo and the Seahawks were in the all-blue at home. Thankfully the Bengals wear the black pants. It does add up a bit to what could have been a blah game had Cincy gone with a white/white combo.

 

Browns-49ers: Very classic look for these two. Something you might have seen 40+ years ago. It's nice, but just a little dry for my mouth.

 

Patriots-Steelers: I guess when these AFC powers clash, the unis look as strong as these two teams play. Again,l a nice range of colors between these two gets a nice thumbs up.

 

Cowboys-Eagles: Not much flash, but again, nice colors bring out some uni goodness. Cowboys in the usual white/quasi-silver and the Eagles in the green/white combo. Is it me or does it seem like the Eagles' green is just a pinch lighter this year?

 

Chargers-Chiefs: Classic AFC matchup with the Chargers in the standard white/dark blue and the Chiefs in red/white. No surprises, but then none needed.

 

So once again, here's how I rank them, top to bottom:

 

1) Redskins-Bills

2) Saints-Rams

3) Lions-Broncos

4) Patriots-Steelers

5) Bengals-Seahawks

6) Jaguars-Texans

7) Vikings-Panthers

8) Dolphins-Giants 

9) Cowboys-Eagles

10) Chargers-Chiefs

11) Cardinals-Ravens

12) Colts-Titans

13) Browns-49ers

Week 7 Uniform Rankings

Week 7 Uniform Rankings

by Tim Brulia

 

Chargers-Jets: Lots of good ol' AFC white. But I happen to think this isn't too bad. Chargers white/navy going against the Jets green/white. Not that bad a matchup, really.

 

Bears-Buccaneers: This game was played at Wembley Stadium in London and to celebrate, both teams wore the very generic "International Series" patch on the left collarbone. Fortunately, the unis had more spark than the patch. Bears in the white/navy combo, which I have also been fond of, and the Bucs in the red/pewter combo. It's a nice mix of colors and not over the top. Cheers, blokes!

 

Redskins-Panthers: Skins rocking the white/burgundy combo and the Panthers wearing what most people think should be their main combo, carolina blue and silver. The Panthers alternate are just about my favorite uniform. Couple with the Redskins colors and this is winning.

 

Falcons-Lions: Falcons in white/white and the Lions in the honolulu blue/silver combo. Falcons with a bit too much white for me, but a nice palette of blue, black, red, silver and white. Not bad.

 

Seahawks-Browns: Seahawks in the full seahawk blue effect and the Browns continue the all white all the time set. I;m glad the Browns wear orange helmets or else this would have taken monochrome to new heights in 2011.

 

Broncos-Dolphins: The Broncs in the dark blue/white combo and the Dolphins, when they play day games at home, ditch the aqua pants for the all white effect. Sorta sad because either the aqua/white combo or the road outfit of white/aqua would have worked so much better here.

 

Texans-Titans: In the not too distant past, the texans would have worn red socks with the white/navy combo. But alas, somewhere along the way, Tex decided to go with the blue socks with the blue pants. Meanwhile, the Titans wore what has become the standard for home with the columbia blue top and the navy pants. It does create a triple layer effect (white helmet/columbia jersey/navy pants) that I like, but there's just a little too much blue at work here for me.

 

Chiefs-Raiders: Classic rivalry with a classic uni matchup (Chiefs white/red, Raiders black/silver). Except for the occasional Chiefs white/white, this is one uniform game that has stood the test of time. It looks just like the days of Dawson, Taylor, Buchanan, Lamonica, Biletnikoff, Connors days. Sweet.

 

Steelers-Cardinals: Teams reprising their Super Bowl XLIII matchup. And it still looks nice. Steelers in the black and yellow and the Big Red in the red/white combo. Not flashy, but certainly not a boring uni matchup.

 

Packers-Vikings: Packers in standard road attire, white and yellow with the Vikes busting out the throwbacks, classic purple jersey with white normal striped pants. I may be strange, but I actually would have preferred the Vikes in the modern kit. But Minny has a tendency to wear the throwbacks against their fellow NFC North bretheren. Still, this one loked real nice.

 

Rams-Cowboys: Rams wearing blue/white at Dallas with the as always white/silvery greenish blue pants. Rams in gold pants would have worked better here, but the pants have enough of a decent stripe combo to off-set that a little bit.

 

Colts-Saints: Forget about the slaughter, this wasn't a bad look. Saints still sticking to white at home in the - er - Mercedes-Benz Superdome in black pants to boot. Colts then adjusting to the blue/white combo. I think the black pants add a bit of spark to the matchup.

 

Ravens-Jaguars: Ravens in white black (a good look for them) with the Jags rocking teal/white. The teal under the lights does add a bit of brightness to an otherwise black and white affair. Nice touch, Jags...and Ravens.

 

 

So here we go with the ranking from 1 to 13 in order this week for week 7:

 

1) Redskins-Panthers 

2) Bears-Buccaneers

3) Chiefs-Raiders

4) Packers-Vikings

5) Steelers-Cardinals

6) Colts-Saints

7) Ravens-Jaguars

8) Seahawks-Browns

9) Jets-Chargers

10) Texans-Titans

11) Rams-Cowboys

12) Falcons-Lions

13) Broncos-Dolphins

Week 6 Uniform Rankings

 

 

Week 6 Uniform Rankings
by Tim Brullia

 

Here's my take and rankings of the week 6 uniform matchups, in the order you see them on the site:

 

49ers-Lions: Forgetting about how well Jim Harbaugh and Jim Schwartz get along, This is a fairly traditional matchup that just doesn't get me excited. Gold and silver, white, red, honolulu blue with a touch of black. I am still a fan of the Lions look, but it's just not sparking it for me.

 

Rams-Packers: Rams breakout their fifth different combo in five games, the most of any team so far. This week it's the white/blue. It's a look I like. Packers bust out their 1929 throwbacks. And this TB is a meh in my book. The lack of sanitary socks is a look I'm not too thrilled with either. If the Pack really want to do throwbacks right, oh please bring us the 1937-1948 yellow shouldered navy jerseys. That is a look I love and it has glory behind it, too (1939 and 1944 championships).

 

Panthers-Falcons: Pathers in their only combo worn this season so far, while the Falcons churn out their popular 1966 thowbacks. This is a beauty because of all the color involved, But I actually prefer the 1967 Falcons jersey for a throwback, as the falcons on the sleeves were white instead of black. It definitely spices up this matchup.

 

Colts-Bengals: Colts in the all whites while the Bengals tote the orange alternates. This should be the Bengals' main dark jersey. Brighter and gets out of the black rut, althought the Bengals have worn black jerseys as their main dark jersey since they started in 1968. But I like the blue and the orange and the black. It's a nice look.

 

Bills-Giants: A (too?) stark contrast between the all white Bills and the steady as she goes Giants blue-gray mix. The Bills old red helmet would have really perked up this match.  

 

Jaguars-Steelers: The Jags seem to be using the Dolphins M.O. of white/dark away and white/white so far this season. And so it is with this matchup with the Steelers. Steelers - almost as always - in their normal black/yellow home combo. That hint of teal in the Jags' black helmets offset all the black a bit.

 

Eagles-Redskins: There's lots of color to be had here. Both teams could have sprung dull white pants on us here, but instead the Eagles show off their green trousers and the Redskins return the bright yellow pants to go along with the burgundy jerseys. Excellent move, boys!

 

Texans-Ravens: Nicely played here as well. Texans in the white/dark blues, with the Ravens nicely offsetting that with the purple/white look. I am a fan.

 

Browns-Raiders: Both squads wearing no nonsense time tested unis that go back forever. Surprised that the Raiders are using the "AL" memorial as a helmet sticker instead of a jersey patch. Then again, even with Davis gone, the Raiders do it their own way.

 

Cowboys-Patriots: This came as a surprise as the Pats decided to go white at home, forcing the 'Boys to wear their "normal" blues for the first time in 2 years. It is a very nice jersey that simply doesn't get used as often as it should. With it, the 'Boys also wear the silver pants as opposed to the greenish silver pants worn with the standard whites. Pats with the whites. Different. Better? Not necessarily.

 

Saints-Buccaneers: Saints again go black on the road with the Bucs staying white at home with white pants to boot and the white/white for once, works. Had the Bucs gone to the pewter pants, which I normally prefer, it would have been too much metal for me. So this one goes in the "W" column.

 

Vikings-Bears: Vikings in all white with the Bears in standard navy blue jersey form. Not a bad matchup, but the Vikes purple pants, especially under the Solider Field lights would made this one awesome.

 

Dolphins-Jets: Dolphins, when away and wearing white jerseys, go with the aqua pants. I dig it. Jets with the grenn jersey/white pants combo, decided to sit out the green pants. Still a nice matchup, even if both like the white helmets.

 

 

So ranking the week 6 games as I see them:

 

13) Rams-Packers

12) Browns-Raiders

11) Bills-Giants

10) 49ers-Lions

9) Vikings-Bears

8) Jaguars-Steelers

7) Dolphins-Jets

6) Saints-Buccaneers

5) Cowboys-Patriots

4) Colts-Bengals

3) Texans-Ravens

2) Panthers-Falcons

1) Eagles-Redskins

 

Check with ya next week, till then take care!!