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Monday Morning Uni Watch

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The NFL announced this year’s Walter Payton Man of the Year Award nominees last week — one for each team. Those 32 players began wearing the Payton logo as a rear-helmet decal this week (as seen above on, from left, Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, Lions quarterback Jared Goff, and KC quarterback Patrick Mahomes) and will continue to wear it for the rest of this season. This season’s Payton winner, who will be announced shortly before the Super Bowl, will wear the Payton logo as a jersey patch for the rest of his career. You can see the full list of this year’s nominees here.

In other news from around the league yesterday:

  • For the first time this season, Gang Green wore green below the helmet, as the Jets finally broke out the green pants (they still haven’t worn the green jerseys) against the Bills, who once again went blue over blue (sigh):
  • Good-looking game in Cincy, where the Bengals’ and Browns’ uniforms complemented each other nicely:
  • Another good-looking game in the Meadowlands, where the Giants and Eagles both wore their best uni combo:
  • I will never get tired of watching the Chargers in their yellow pants:

  • Things weren’t quite so easy on the eyes in Detroit, where the Lions once again looked embarrassing:
  • The Broncos wore their mono-navy alternates:
  • The Seahawks wore their alternate grey pants:
  • In that same game, Panthers cornerback Jaycee Horn, who wears No. 8, had a fold in his jersey that, at first glance, made it look like he was wearing No. 0:
  • Cowboys running back Tony Pollard’s socks were blue topped by white, instead of the more common white topped by blue:
  • Not a great photo, but Bucs linebacker Rakeem Nuñez-Roches’s NOB had a tilde over the “U,” instead of the second “N” (which, as it turns out, he also had two weeks ago):
  • Bills coach Sean McDermott was wearing a hoodie with the hood cut off:
  • Only one home team wore white: the aforementioned Cowboys, of course.

(My thanks to Willie Gabel, Marcus Hall, R. Santiago, Pete Schwadel, and John Turney for their contributions.)

 
  
 
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NFL
Comments (37)

    I have to admit, I don’t mind the Seahawks’ grey pants with the navy jersey as a combo. I despise the grey jersey, but the pants aren’t bad when worn with a dark jersey.

    I actually think they look really out of place. Those pants could really use some green. Somehow it feels similar to the Broncos wearing navy pants with white tops.

    Yes. Both the grey and white pants could use a bit of green in the stripes. Would be an easy detail to tweak.

    Blue tops with blue pants at home since the uniform change for the Seahawks had been the norm. But then you had Color Rash, a bit of trying to change luck, etc.

    Seahawks used to do Blue/White or Grey when they were on the road against a team wearing white at home.

    And…the Seahawks are still the ONLY team to have NEVER worn white at home.

    Why aren’t the Ravens’ purple pants the correct shade? Ravens purple is more blue-based than the Vikings’ more red-based, and these purple pants look Minnesota-esque. I didn’t grab a pic of it against the Steelers, but noticed multiple Ravens players with visible undershirts of the correct shade, matching the purple of the jersey numbers, and clearly contrasting against the pants.

    I’ve noticed the purple jerseys are this way as well. It’s bothering me as the original shade was so much better.

    Don’t know if it’s just not being used to it, but I honestly prefer the seahawks mono navy look. I think it could be due to the mono jerseys being a more modern trend, and Seattle has very modern jerseys, so it works since it’s made to. But the grey pants looks like it can’t decide between being traditional or modern.

    Same here. Anything but all blue looks weird to me. And I’m generally not a mono uni person. But I am for Seattle.

    …and that’ why they desperately need to change the jersey.
    And take whatever that is off the top of the helmet!

    Gotta disagree there. Maybe the set could use a few tweaks, but honestly its the most distinctive look the team has ever had. The nfl needs more innovation in their uniforms. I’m not saying go NBA and have completely random stuff all the time. But it would be nice if teams could make changes to there uniforms, while still preserving the essence of their look, like a lot of soccer leagues do.

    “Good-looking game in Cincy, where the Bengals’ and Browns’ uniforms complemented each other nicely:”

    I had been thinking over this for a few minutes. I can’t really decide if games like Bengals/Browns look good or not. My first reaction is teams with contrasting but non clashing color schemes work the best. Take Packers/Bears, Chiefs/Raiders, Cowboys/Niners, etc. In my mind those uniforms compliment each other, and provide significant visual distinction between the teams to make it especially aesthetically pleasing. Bengals/Browns, given that they not only have near identical color sets, but also matching designs, makes them feel like an inter-squad scrimmage with so little contrast. But now I am questioning if it is still a good looking matchup regardless.

    Hot take: the Browns current set is so good it elevates any game they’re in (as long as they’re not wearing their mono-turd look). My jury is still out on the Bengals redesign. It’s undeniably _better_ than the old one but it still feels kind of off.

    Overall though when I look at that pic I feel positive reactions, so my impression is the game looked good (despite my not being super into Cincy’s unis).

    Yeah, the Browns current look is great. Only thing I might change is putting numbers on the side of the helmets. I’m always a little torn when they wear orange pants because it sort of overshadows the brown, which is their primary color. But regardless of that it is a beautiful uniform. They are back in the top tier with teams like the Packers, Chiefs, Raiders, Bears, etc.
    I have never been a fan of the Bengals helmet, but even aside from that I think their new set has some glaring problems. Lack of tv numbers make it look like a cheap knock off. I think their white jerseys and pants leave something to be desired in how the stripes are rendered, the white pants/jerseys never seem to properly match the black pants/jerseys when paired. And in general I have always thought orange should be their primary jersey.

    I don’t understand the hate toward the Lions blue/blue look. Sure, the standard blue over silver is much, much better, but I don’t mind the Blue/Blue. In fact, I would argue it’s the best mono color look in the league (the bar is admittedly low, as mono color is rarely a GREAT look). Besides, I’ll take blue/blue over the awful gray bodysuit any day.

    For me, I think it’s just a general distain for the mono/scuba look (jersey and pants in same color vs. all white). The solid/same color socks make it even worse looking. In the case of the Lions, there’s the added issue where there are only two colors, blue and grey. I hate the Bills in mono also, but at least there’s blue/red/white to add a little contrast. Yes, the gray body suit is particularly nasty.

    Maybe it’s just something hardwired in my brain, but mono-color looks will always seem slightly amateurish to me. Something just screams “high school” and drowns out everything else. It makes teams look cheap, like they’re wearing a Hollywood imitation of a real NFL uniform.

    Good point Brodie! In our youth, dark colored pants were associated with high school programs, not colleges or pros. One pre-uni-watch evening, while discussing “ugly uniforms games”, a group of friends decided (beverages were plentiful that evening):
    – All pants should be white, gray silver, or light yellow/gold, with full stripes (Penn State wears white, but looks like they’re going to practice, not a game)
    – All helmets should match the pants color, but with certain exceptions. Helmets must have stripes, preferably multiple;
    – Shoulder decorations should go totally around – figure it out Nike, UA, Adidas, etc!
    – Colleges would be limited to using only their real school colors. Black allowed as a trim color unless your named Purdue, Vandy, etc.
    We concluded that most of the current atrocities would be eliminated if they followed these aesthetic guidelines.

    Eh, I feel like that would just be boring. Every team would look like they used nikes jersey creator. I can see an argument for the nfl having more strict, “traditional” jerseys, just given the overall vibe of games. But college football is fun. It’s played by a bunch of 20 year olds. Student sections bring so much energy and a fun vibe to everything. Let young people have fun with their uniforms.

    The lions seem to get a lot of hate/criticism here. I know it’s all opinions, but I don’t think they have a bad look in the entire set and I only have 2 complaints: they should wear blue socks with the all grey set, and I don’t like the wordmark on the sleeve. It’s not that I dislike the wordmark in principle, I just don’t like the current execution of it.

    Those Bengals pants are a joke. They match nothing else in the Bengals visual package, and make zero sense.

    Mono-blue for the Seahawks is their best look. The grey pants are ‘meh’.

    I have decided that I like the Giants blue over white when they wear their throwbacks (GIANTS helmet + uniform), but dislike the white pants with their current look (ny helmet + uniform).

    Lee

    Agree on the Bengals pants.

    The Seahawks going blue-over-grey has the same impact for me as when the Cowboys wear their blue uniforms. It should feel right but just doesn’t, because they’re so identified with the look they usually wear.

    Until Nike figures out shoulder hoops, I’m giving this Jets’ uniform the advantage for its tasty green shade. Would still prefer the Super Bowl III look, but the details have to be correct.

    Little minor details would help improve this look. Even if they did not change uniform striping, it would help to get rid of minimal black trim on the numbers. Put a white facemask on instead of black.

    The Jets colored pants (green & black) are so bad anyways, and they pair them with the same colored socks, its just a mess, period.
    Why they can’t just wear white pants, with green socks is beyond me.

    I wonder, if asked, what the answer would be to “what is it you’re trying to accomplish with your uniform selections?”.
    “Looking good” is obviously off the table. So what then?

    Lee

    What happened to the Bengals? They used to look so good back in the Boomer/Ickey days. My theory is the matte fabric and matte helmet material is doing them no favors. There used to be something about the glossy shine of the black and orange from the 80s era that got completely lost in translation during the Nike takeover. Kind of the same problem with Raiders… but to a lesser degree. Love to hear your opinion!

    Why doesn’t the NFL just let this site and its fans pick the uniforms? Doesn’t the NFL know we “just get it”?

    I’m a Seahawks fan, and I like the blue jersey/grey pants combo – but not at home. They wore this combo in a playoff game at Dallas a few years ago and it looked great. Yesterday? Not so much – the mono navy at home just looks right.

    Just a thought, is it possible the Seahawks chose grey pants because they thought it possible that the Panthers would wear black pants? Maybe they thought the black was too close in colour to their navy blue pants. My understanding is teams choose what colour uniform they are going to wear for all 17 games even before the regular season starts. Is that right?

    My favourite Seahawk uni combo is blue helmet, white jersey with white pants, blue socks. Nice.

    Mono only looks good in white. The best Seahawks combi is the blue shirt and the white pants. Bengals are messing up an upgrade for their uniform by mixing and matching all the time. I am certainly a traditionalist when it comes to favorite NFL uniforms: Packers, Bears, Chiefs, Raiders, Chargers, Niners, Steelers. But sometimes I do embrace innovation: Patriots and Panthers (well, not that new anymore).

    The only thing worse than how NFL players look is how NFL coaches look. Like homeless slobs. I don’t expect the days of Tom Landry to return, but at least try to look like you give a sh*t. Sigh.

Comments are closed.