Skip to content
 
Uni Watch

Monday Morning Uni Watch: 2023, Week 2

Posted in:
By

Good morning! Good-looking game yesterday in Foxboro, as Pat Patriot returned to the field. Too bad the Dolphins didn’t take the opportunity to wear their own throwbacks, which would have made this a full-on retro game. Lots of additional photos here.

Here’s how the uni matchup looked in motion:

As usual, the one fly in the throwback ointment was the hosiery, which was all over the place:

Interestingly, Pats coach Bill Belichick wore a red hoodie (which made sense) with Flying Elvis (which did not), while at least one member of his staff went with Pat Patriot:

In other news from around the league yesterday:

  • The Falcons wore their throwbacks, which made for a pretty good-looking game against the Packers, although it would’ve looked a lot better if not for the terrible lighting in Atlanta’s stadium. That noise you hear in the background is America’s football fans collectively saying, “They should wear these all the time!” (Lots of additional pics here.):
  • The Bears wore their orange alternates (additional photos here):
  • The Cowboys wore their rear-helmet memorial decal for Gil Brandt, which had been announced on Friday. I believe this is a one-and-done memorial, not season-long:
  • The Broncos celebrated the 25th anniversary of their 1998 season, which culminated in their Super Bowl XXXIII championship. Because they wore white in that Super Bowl (against the Falcons), they also wore white yesterday (against the Commanders), marking the first time in the team’s 64-season history that they’ve worn white at home. Check that: Yesterday was the first time Denver has worn white at home since Nov. 16, 2003, against the Chargers. And that was a highly unusual situation, because the league office made the Broncos wear white as a punishment for bringing the wrong jerseys to an earlier road game against the Chargers. If you want to find the last time the Broncos chose to wear white at home, you have to go all the way back to Oct. 16, 1983, against the Bengals! And look, the Commies actually dressed like a passable example of an NFL team for a change:
  • In that same game, the Broncos’ live horse mascot, Thunder, wasn’t on hand for the first time in 31 years because the woman who usually rides him was competing in a horse show.
  • The Jags looked completely ridiculous wearing mono-teal against a well-dressed Kansas City team:
  • The Lions’ 90th-season patch was missing from quarterback Jared Goff’s jersey:
  • I don’t know what Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua thought he was doing with his hosiery, but it wasn’t a pretty sight:
  • Bears wideout D.J. Moore wore a rather short-hemmed jersey. It’s not quite a crop-top, but it’s definitely shorter than what most other players wear (he did this last week as well, so it appears to be his preferred style):

  • NFL officials are usually pretty good about having their jerseys tucked in, but back judge Brad Freeman got caught going untucked yesterday:

As for this evening, there are two Monday Night Football games on tap: The Browns will debut their new white alternate helmet against the Steelers (an ultra-rare instance of a new uni element debuting on the road), and the Saints and Panthers will have what promises to be a brutal-looking uni matchup.

(My thanks to all contributors, including Brian Campbell, Mike Chamernik, Willie Gabel, Kary Klismet, John Turney, and our own Jerry Wolper.)

 

 
  
 

Can of the Day

So much to like here, including the slogan “Fine for the tummy.” Also: That lid design — yowza!

Related Posts

Denver Broncos’ 2024 Jerseys Apparently Leak

Let’s Look at These Weird Mid-1990s NFL Mascot Characters

Turn Back the Clock: Bryce Harper Wears Pre-2024 Uniform

REMINDER: Uni Watch’s Teespring Merch Is Now 20% Off

Philadelphia 76ers’ City Design Appears in Greatest Leak Photo Ever
Comments (88)

    Correct me if I’m wrong, but the last time Bill wore a red sweatshirt was SB 42 right? I know it’s far and away the color he wears the LEAST

    Also, re: the Falcons lighting, does the turf look good on any of the indoor arenas? The Superdome always looks awful, Dallas looks okay when it doesn’t have a beam of light blinding one team. Ranking the appearance of fields on TV could be a fun Substack piece.

    If that were to happen, my vote would be for, even though it is no longer an NFL stadium, the L.A. Coliseum. On sunny days, I always thought it was a great looking backdrop.

    Is it really “mono” teal if they have black helmets and white socks? Idk, it’s confusing.

    Or is that “super mono” when it’s the same color head to toe.

    Technically not mono.

    And since KC didn’t have white pants, it was a decent matchup. I don’t mind as much if one team goes mono or partially mono, as long as the other team doesn’t.

    Agree to all of this.

    I might actually prefer teal pants to to white pants when they wear the teal jersey, because at least there’s some color to those bland pant design.

    Wish Jacksonville at least had some accents on their uniforms. And no, I don’t mean the crappy piping they had back in the late 2000’s. But, some black/gold stripes could really make this uniform a lot better.

    The Jags’ pants have a one-inch band of contrasting color on the bottom of each leg, confined to the back. AFAICT, it’s there to break up the leotard look.

    While you’re technically right, colloquially in the uni-community (mostly here and CCSLC), “mono” refers to jersey and pants. Now that there’s alt helmets and no sock rules, “super mono” or “mega mono” might enter the lexicon.

    Reading from a blog on the Broncos website…. they wore white at home in Week 2 in 1980 against the Cowboys (presumably an FU to the Cowboys, forcing them to wear their “unlucky” blue) and again in 2003 against the Chargers. That season, the Broncos brought white jerseys to San Diego, forcing the Chargers to wear blue after planning to wear white at home. The league gave the Chargers the option on which jersey to wear for their subsequent game in Mile High, and the Chargers chose blue, forcing the Broncos to wear white for the only time in their current home.

    “an ultra-rare instance of a new uni element debuting on the road”

    The Bears debuted their orange helmets on the road yesterday.

    Fella next to me at the bar made a comment about Da Bears combo that it looked mismatched, and sure enough, the helmet and the jersey really did look like 2 different shades of orange. Once he pointed that out, I couldn’t unsee it. That being said, I wish that was the only thing in that game I wish I could unsee…

    Adding on to the comment from Bob, the Broncos also wore white at home (with orange pants!) for the 1971 season.

    Thanks for the unpleasant reminder ; )
    And hats off to the Commies…that combo is as good as they can get.

    The Commanders actually have three acceptable combos.

    link

    link

    link

    Anything else is unacceptable.

    Let this be a lesson to the Cardinals. Drop the mono (except perhaps white/white), but just wear contrasting socks. It’s really not that hard.

    This superman-leotard shit is high school stuff.

    All three of those would be perfectly-fine, I daresay very good, looks if not for the dorky numerals.

    I really don’t think the Cardinals unis would look so bad paired with the white pants. Just like Jacksonville, it just takes you to “blah town” with mono-red and nothing to break it up.

    Only the combo from yesterday approaches anything “acceptable.” The others leave out a key color of the Commander’s color scheme (gold) and substitute details in black with a ridiculous fade pattern to boot. They are TRULY awful, exceeded in awfulness only by the BFBS disaster. I hope the League will waive its five year rule and allow the new ownership to fix this travesty!

    Does the NFL even have a sock rule anymore, outside of showing bare legs? Not even sure what would be the official socks for the Patriots? Even though the red looks good on that one player, I’m assuming it’s the white high socks with proper striping. Sock stripes used to be a positive look, but now with all the variations it’s a negative.

    My guess is that the fines levied, even though I think in the $5k range were just pocket change to NFL players. Players would rather look individual than save money. Guessing that’s why so many are broke 5 years after they retire. If they NFL cared how teams looked on the field, they would enforce heavier fines. Make players understand that the team they play for should look a certain way.

    IMO, football uniforms in general just look plain sloppy anymore both in NCAA and the NFL. Why even call them uniforms anymore since there is no uniformity. Long undershirts untucked, every player with a different style and color of socks, whatever color cleats you want. I also say this being a HUGE cleat guy. I’ve always been a nerd about cleats and equipment in general. I just miss the days when you knew the Bears were a rarity in the NFL wearing black cleats. I remember when the Eagles announced they were moving from white to black cleats and I hated that move.

    $5K x 17 = $85K
    That’s a lot for guys many players on their first contract, or just hanging on. I’m thinking enforcement is random and rare, unless you’re someone like the guys going bare legged.

    The NFL should make it a 15 yard penalty anytime a uniform violator plays a down. That would finally end this nonsense.

    Get ready to see the ridiculous mono-real look even more, as well as mono black and white, presumably. Why? Because Trevor Lawrence doesn’t get it (trademark logo):
    link

    I liked the Jaguars uni – and I guess I’m in the minority when it comes to the Falcons’ main uniforms. I think they’re pretty sharp, as are the throwbacks.

    With the Giants road uniforms having so much red (which I hate, historical accuracy be damned), the better visual coming from the Cardinals yesterday would have been their black set. It’s a totally unnecessary look for them, but if you’re going to have a full black uni, aren’t these the matchups when they work best? Watch, they’ll wear them against the Ravens or Falcons instead.

    I happen to like the Giants roadies quite a bit…it’s a sharp look, even if it does not mirror their blue home uniforms. But yes, without the helmets it resembled an intra-squad game.
    While the differentiation ‘problem’ is rather infrequent, but I’d prefer to see the Cards wear white-over-white (their best set of the redesign) all the time, home and road. It’s been done before (SD Chargers, LA Rams).
    YMMV of course.

    You’re right! Cards in white at home yesterday causing Giants to wear blue would have been the best look.

    Re: Browns – if your team’s de facto logo is an orange helmet, you can’t wear a white one. That should be in the NFL rulebook.

    I’ve been a Broncos fan in Colorado for over 50 years. In addition to other comments on Broncos white at home, Dan Reeves tried to force the Cowboys culture on Denver when he became head coach after being a Dallas player and assistant. Two games in the early 1983 season had the Broncos wearing white at home.

    I think you may have gotten the Broncos and Seahawks confused — the Seahawks have NEVER worn white at home, but are doing so this coming weekend against Carolina, because they’re going to be celebrating their 2014 Super Bowl win — 2013 season — over (ironically) the Broncos, when they wore white jerseys over blue pants.

    link

    They will replicate this look this Sunday.

    The Seahawks are the ONLY NFL team (at least since 1957 when white jerseys were mandated) to have never worn white at home.

    I can’t believe the Seahawks would just casually end a streak like that. I bet the Panthers will wear mono black just to ruin the moment.

    I’m not so sure it’s “casual.”

    The team is celebrating the 10th anny of their only Supe win. And they’re wearing the same uni combo as they wore in that game.

    I agree it’s odd to end a “streak” like this one (though I can understand the thinking behind it), but it’s hardly casual.

    The Broncos were in the worst looking Super Bowl, but not against the Seahawks.
    It was against another bird…a dirty one.

    Been a Packers fan for 55 years, and I’ve always preferred the white road jersey to the green home jersey. Cleaner look.

    Regarding the Patriots, their red, white and blue “Pat Patriot” uniforms look so much better than anything they’ve worn since the mid-90s. What a beautiful game last night.

    However, the red unis were emblematic of a doormat and hapless Patriots era, while they were the best team in NFL history wearing the navy, silver and red “Flying Elvis” duds. How unfortunate for us who like good-looking uniforms.

    White helmet, red jersey, white pants isn’t unique. It is the same uniforms the Cardinals have worn for nearly the entire history of modern professional football (well until the mono trend started).
    I’d like to see the Pats pair that throwback jersey (maybe give it a custom number font) with the flying elvi silver helmet, and silver pants that had corresponding matching stripes. That would unique and blend great red jersey with some of the winning look of the last 20 years.

    Yes, red and silver combo would look better than their usual uniforms.

    But their throwback white/red/white is dramatically different from anything the Cardinals ever wore. Cardinal red is darker first of all, and didn’t have any blue trim and striping.

    Your Can of The Day entries lead me to believe you’d get a major kick out of the book “Junk Type : Typography, Lettering, Badges, Logos” by Bill Rose.

    Why does that orange/orange/white combo look so awful for the Bears? Yeeesh. The orange jersey looked way better with the blue helmet in my opinion. If they really want this helmet, it’d probably look better with either of the two other jerseys than the orange one. A white alternate helmet would have been a superior choice.

    The bears orange helmet is a really great example of a team basically saying, “We don’t need to do this, but the league said we could, so we did.” It definitely doesn’t look right for them.

    Hopefully Atlanta is back to where they need to be – slowly but surely.
    Now, about those black jerseys…

    Since most teams won’t give a home game for an away game to wear their throwbacks, I wish the NFL would allow teams to wear their throwbacks a 4th time if it is for an away game in which the home team is wearing throwbacks. It just looks better when both teams wear throwbacks. Unfortunately, when Miami wears their white throwbacks against NE later this season, the Pats will probably be wearing their current navy unis.

    Not a fan of the pumpkin spice Bears. There are so many ways from their history to work in more orange or have a cool alternate look. 100% orange helmet and jersey is like they are not trying. Especially in comparison with some of their past efforts.

    Agree. When I see orange helmet and orange jersey my mind goes to the Bengals, not the Bears. No need for the Bears to have the orange helmet or jersey, when going for an alternate look 1936 throwback works great and still looks like they are the Bears.

    A lard that’s good for the tummy, reminds me of the Camel cigarettes that doctors preferred 2 to 1 over the other leading brands

    I must have missed the announcement, but the Falcons red helmets had thin gold stripes along the center striping, creating a: gold/White/BLACK/White/gold stripe. You couldn’t see it from a distance, but up close, it did look sharp. Although, I would have expected a silver accent instead of gold. Head coach, Arthur Smith, had a matching patch with striping on the side of his hat too.

    There was no announcement, as the Falcons have been wearing this “throwback” to 1966-1969 helmet with their red jersey for a while now. Last season, when multiple shells were first permitted and yesterday, and they also threw back to this look previously (pre single shell rule). It’s not just their “original” helmet — that helmet was designed with colors to appease fans of both UGa and GT. The red/black is for Georgia, the gold is for Georgia Tech.

    link

    “The thin gold stripes on the Falcons helmet were to apparently appease the folks at Georgia Tech who thought the Falcons looked too similar to the University of Georgia’s football team. To fix everything, the Falcons wore two thin gold stripes on their helmets from 1966-1969.”

    link

    Fascinating! Thanks for the info, Phil! Funny to edit your team’s jersey to appease fans of two other teams! Fan-bases!

    I was just happy to see the Bills in white pants. The mono-blue look is terrible and it bothers me how much they use it.

    Not mono.
    The white helmet keeps it from being mono, and makes it look acceptable to me.

    I thought Washington looked really good yesterday. One of those few modern unis that would look great if you didn’t have their old unis as a frame of reference.

    The winner of today is the yummy can, not any NFL team (but I love that Falcons helmet and scream along with the masses: keep it!).

    This is the one version of the Commanders uniform I think looks good. Could still use some pant stripes, but otherwise I think it’s pretty great.

    Re: Lighting in indoor stadiums and how bad Atlanta, New Orleans (especially) and I would add Detroit games look. The one indoor stadium (or at least sometimes indoor) stadium that got it right is Minnesota. It seems like “natural lighting” is starting to become a trend, hopefully it continues. The Lions really need to play outdoors. The ugliest outdoor stadium……Washington?

    I always found the Superdome lighting to be cozy and intimate.
    Some great looking Super Bowls and Sugar Bowls have been played there.

    I made it a point to look at the Cowboys’ pants stripe and to me it sure looked like the blue matched the royal on the jerseys and not the navy on the helmet. Maybe the style guide wasn’t an error?

    They wore the seafoam pants yesterday — those have always had the royal striping.

    The now-discredited style guide update was for the *silver* pants, which they wear with the navy jerseys.

    I wouldn’t refer to those as “seafoam” anymore. Those are light blue.

    link

    The shade the blue pants replaced back in 2020 would more appropriately be called seafoam (or maybe even mint?).

    link

    Regarding Nacua: Nike’s NFL team uniform leg sleeves look terrible if there’s no striping, it just ends up looking like leggings that have been cut into pieces for no apparent reason

    Broncos also wore white at home against the Chargers, who wore white at home at the time, in Week 3 of the 1980 season.

    link

    “and the Saints and Panthers will have what promises to be a brutal-looking uni matchup.”

    ….just paint the field grey and we can all have an old school B/W-TV Throwback game….

    I don’t care for the Bears orange helmet at all. The blue C logo seems to just get lost in all of the orange.

Comments are closed.