Pretty good-looking game last night in Pittsburgh, as the Browns’ new white fauxback helmet made its on-field debut. I still think it’s really weird to debut a new helmet on the road, but I guess they wanted to showcase it for the national TV audience. I thought it worked quite nicely with the team’s minimalist aesthetic. Lots of additional photos here and here.
Here’s how the uni matchup looked in action:
Chief weaving his way for 29 yds 💪
📺: #CLEvsPIT on ABC
📱: Stream on NFL+ pic.twitter.com/vaVXMG2P3Q— Cleveland Browns (@Browns) September 19, 2023
And we even got a bit of uni commentary from play-by-play broadcaster Joe Buck, who gave a brief primer on the uniform’s provenance:
@Uniwatch Joe Buck making the uniform explanation#CLEvsPIT #Browns #HereWeGo #MNF #MNFxESPN pic.twitter.com/et5nQ6zbgr
— ᑭᖇO ᖴOOTᗷᗩᒪᒪ ᒍOᑌᖇᑎᗩᒪ 🏈 (@NFL_Journal) September 19, 2023
In case you’ve forgotten: The Browns first wore this throwback uniform, which is based on their 1946 design, as part of their 75th-anniversary celebration in 2021. But the one-shell rule was still in effect at the time, so they had to pair the white jersey and pants with their standard orange shell:
The uniform sat on the shelf in 2022 and then reappeared this year with the new white lid. As I said when it was unveiled, I think it would benefit from thinner helmet striping (a single brown or orange stripe would work nicely, much like the single white stripe they used in 2021), but that’s a nitpick. Overall, I think it looks really sharp.
Another nitpick: I really dislike that “1946” patch. You could sorta/kinda make a case for it in 2021, as part of the anniversary celebration, but it makes no sense to keep it now. I assume they’re stuck with it because of the five-year rule or something silly like that.
Speaking of which: Because of the “1946” patch, the Browns haven’t added their Jim Brown memorial patch to this jersey. Instead, they’re wearing a “32” decal on the back of the white helmet:
They wore that same decal on their primary helmet during the preseason (when they didn’t wear the memorial chest patch) but removed it when they added the patch for the start of the regular season. Really weird to have separate memorial platforms for the different uniforms, all because of the stupid “1946” patch.
The Browns will wear this uniform two more times this season:
- Oct. 15, at home against the 49ers.
- Dec. 28 (a Thursday night), at home against the Jets.
I actually thought this uni looked pretty good on the field last night. Not usually a fan of the “stormtrooper” look. But, this one works!
That can holds a special delight for me. My hometown was previously home to the finest little hot dog stand on God’s green earth, which sourced its frankfurters from a local supplier. Neither still exists, but the frankfurter brand has been acquired by Kayem, which still keeps their name alive: “Essem”. The tagline, as one might guess, was, “Yes’m, it’s an Essem.” So I love to see a brand which appears to have functioned as a cousin.
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Didn’t catch it while I was watching last night, but it’s interesting that all the offensive players in the embeded Joe Buck video are wearing black gloves, I’m assuming, in an effort to get away with more holds. Interesting!
Ah, good spot!
(Not that any players really follow the uniform rules these days but)
I thought that teams were only allowed to wear gloves that are in their color palette (October exceptions) and the Browns have zero black in their color schemes, so isn’t that prohibited?
Looks like wearing white gloves worked for Joey Porter, Jr., as a clear holding on the 4th down play late in the 4th quarter was missed by the ref looking directly at it.
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Is it just me or my new tv, but did the Panthers helmets look exceptionally “sparkly” tonight?
I noticed that as well.
their helmets have always been incredibly sparkly. it is more noticeable at night. yes theyre basically raiders jerseys with blue in them. but they took the helmets to another level of pizazz. and as a panthers fan, i love the over the topness of them
I am not particularly a fan of alternate helmets, uniforms, and the like, but I would be 100% on board with the Browns using this full time as their road uniform (but add in tv numbers on the jerseys).
I wouldn’t want other teams to start having different home and road helmets, but I guess given the logo-less nature of the Browns uniforms, and that their orange helmet without the brown jersey makes them see very… un-Browns like, yes make an exception for them and have this be their standard road look.
I think the white helmet would probably look great with the brown jersey as well.
“their orange helmet without the brown jersey makes them see very… un-Browns like”
Um.
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That orange over white is the very essence of the Browns, dating back to…well…
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I love the alt white hat, and would like to see it more than just three games a season, but no way should that be a permanent “road” look. If anything, the team should wear the orange/white/white more often at home, like they used to do.
If you (and by you, I mean anyone in general) want to argue the Browns should wear their orange pants more…either with the brown jersey
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or the white
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I would listen to that.
Just never wear the brown pants again.
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I probably didn’t phrase that properly, yes that design has absolutely been linked to the Browns forever, I was just saying it isn’t very brown, lowercase b, like.
I don’t think it is a bad look, it is a good look (and think orange/white/white is great for the Bengals), just something about it for the Browns doesn’t sit right with me, when the most significant color element for their away jerseys is orange. This is more a me thing than a “it looks bad” thing. And really something as simple as adding brown numbers to the helmet would make me like it a lot more.
In 1988, the Browns didn’t wear their brown jerseys once at home during the regular season.
Random question: in the one-shell days, did any team ever consider some sort of wrap or adhesive covering to change the shell color? I don’t want to say “contact paper”, but teams apply the striping on the helmet regularly and remove the stripes and logos for regular polishing. What would stop them from making wider stripes to the point that they covered the entire helmet? The Browns could have covered over the orange shells and made a white one-off for the throwback uniforms.
Here, read this. link
Thank you sir. I guess in my hypothetical, the wrap would be used for a one-off and the damage would be instantly visible when the adhesive were removed but your answer is well taken.
It’s a good, clean look. Solid B+ from me…
Great stuff today! I love the Browns’ fauxback look, the rugby unis and that neat can-of-the-day. re: the Browns’ patch. Hard to believe (ok, it is the NFL so maybe not do hard) that the 5 year rule would keep them from replacing that patch with the Jim Brown one.
I love those Browns unis!
I thought the Browns looked great.
I agree that the helmet would have looked better with a single narrow stripe. But on the other hand without a helmet logo I think the extra wide stripe with three bands of familiar team colours was a good choice. The helmet is instantly recognizable as Browns with those stripes, even though we haven’t seen a white helmet in living memory. I think that was a pretty hard task and they pulled it off.
To make it less “fauxback” no stripe on the white helmet would have been apropos, per GUID, as the white helmets in 46 – 51 had no stripe.
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The Browns unis were nice. The extra helmet stripes resulted in just a little less white, which I think was a positive in this situation.
My thoughts on the Browns notwithstanding, that is a really great look for them. I liked them when they unveiled them, and liked the, even more on the field. Well done.
Enjoyed the look of the new helmet for the Browns last night. Saw a small bit of the game. I do prefer the Browns in the orange helmet.
You all know I am a huge Canadian football fan. Looked at the Browns helmet in game and it help me imagine what the BC Lions would look like if they brought their iconic 1978-1989 orange and brown era uniforms back as their look. It is basically the same helmet but missing the BC Lions logo and it would need an orange mask.
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I noticed Watson has his green dot communication sticker higher than most on his helmet stripe.
2 questions:
Why does the NFL use that specific sticker type? I understand visibility is critical, but they must have a better option than a thrift shop “clearance dot sticker”
Is there any rule or standards of where the green dot must be placed? It is generally in the same area but not consistent from team to team or even QB & defense on the same team.
This is the NFL so of course there is a very detailed rule. I’m guessing you have written about it & I just missed it.
Well Cleveland and Pittsburgh are only two hours apart by car, so if there was a road game to debut this, this would be it.
As with many white-over-white road uniforms, I love this Browns set…but now only from the neck down.
Plus, only appropriate to highlight the biggest rivalry the Browns have.
A white Browns helmet with a single, thin stripe would just have people saying it’s a Penn State look-a-like. Think the pant striping should match this format instead of the opposite.
Don’t love the look. I think the fact that it adds to the throwback being more accurate is cool, but I don’t think the design translates from a leather helmet to a shell very well. It just looks empty without any color or a logo on the helmet. I prefer the Bengals’ white helmet by far.
Had to catch up on the Uni-drawings of the French rugby players…
Would have loved having football templates like that to fill in when I was a kid….
Did you notice that they were all male players and she Uni-fied them into female players ? Genius!
Lotsa attention to detail, she loves airplanes LOL, and a love of country (love patriotism in youth)…those French flag socks were very clever….
She could be a historian, farmer AND fashion designer… B – D
Just a nice break from BFBS, Uni-ads, and underskirt shirts….thanks, Y’all…
The best Browns look with white jersey is orange/white/orange. Brian Sipe and company late 70s early 80s. This is a good lesson in why they don’t wear the 1946 uniform anymore. Fans can be relieved they won’t wear them in the next game they watch.
Good Browns outfit, great drawings from France but that can takes the crown.