In 2020, the Patriots introduced their current uniform set. In the three-plus seasons since then, we’ve seen countless examples of players wearing the wrong number font, the wrong NOB font, or both. But we hadn’t seen a player wearing the wrong pants — until yesterday.
That was the situation with Pats offensive lineman Conor McDermott. As you can see above, he was wearing the Tom Brady-era navy pants, which were last used in 2019, for yesterday’s game against the Commies, while the rest of the team was wearing the current pants.
Here are a few more images:
How does stuff like this keep happening? Do you think these repeated glitches reflect an overall organizational sloppiness that reflects the team’s recent on-field decline? (Just to be clear: I’m not saying I think that. But I’m asking if you think that.)
Also, this really drives home the point that the Pats need to scrap the mono-blue look and go back to their silver/grey pants, which they wore for their previous two games. Too bad they didn’t stick with that.
Aside from McDermott’s britches imbroglio, it was a fairly uni-uneventful day around the league — no throwbacks, no alternates, no unusual combos. But here are a few noteworthy items:
- Speaking of wearing outdated gear, at least seven Bills players, including quarterback Josh Allen, were wearing last year’s jersey template. One of those seven players — running back James Cook — had also worn the old template two weeks ago, but I’m not aware of the other players having done so.
- Now that the Panthers have a black helmet, I don’t understand why they’d go black over black with their silver helmet:
- Strange look for Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, who wore tan shoes (additional info here):
- Browns defensive back Mike Ford wore compression sleeves patterned after the team’s socks (which, as it turns out, he’s done a few previous times this season, although I didn’t notice it until now):
- This was the first Sunday of the month, so several teams were doing the G.I. Joevember thing with their captaincy patches, towels, rear-helmet decals, sideline attire, goalpost padding, and so on:
- Not a single home team wore white (although the Jets will be doing so tonight).
(My thanks to the many, many people who spotted Conor McDermott’s erroneous pants and the Bills’ wayward jersey templates.)
Being from New England, it’s my opinion that the Patriots are a complete shit show. Discipline is not nearly what it used to be and I see that as organizational-wide. I’m hoping they clean house at the end of the season.
As for Westley’s Bleche White – I have used that for decadeson my tires. It’s a pump, not an aerosol.
I’m just old enough to remember whitewall tires being both normal, if not common, and desirable. Nowadays, it’s a classic car detail, and I’ve sometimes wondered how people source and clean their whitewalls. Cool to learn of the continuity of the cleaning product!
Also I recently learned that rubber is naturally white, sometimes more of a honey light tan. Which puts the phenomenon of whitewall tires in a different frame for me.
Honestly, all the uni nonsense for the Pats doesn’t surprise me. I don’t know if they used to be better about it, but I think we can say with confidence the last thing Belichick gives a crap about is the aesthetics of his team’s uniform. He clearly doesn’t care about his sideline choices, and I don’t believe he ever has. This may simply trickle down to the equipment folks. As in, they don’t care if one player has the wrong pants or inconsistent uni numbers as long as they are disciplined elsewhere/on the field (at the moment they are not on the field either).
[Belichick] clearly doesn’t care about his sideline choices, and I don’t believe he ever has.
Sure he does. For several years now, he’s added the Croatian flag to his attire, and he goes out of his way *not* to wear G.I. Joevember gear: link
The reason Belichick dresses so sloppily on the sideline, at least apocryphally, is as a form of protest against the league’s rule that coaches wear official Nike (or Reebok, once upon a time) sideline gear. Allegedly Belichick would rather wear a suit like coaches of old so his disheveled appearance is to present the mandated sideline gear as poorly as possible.
Yep
I suspect a do-over would happen once Belichick leaves, and if so, I would favor a return to something close to the Pat Patriot era. A “modern” take on the late 60s-early 90s uniform would also work for me, though that may be a wish I regret due to Nike’s penchant for story-telling with every uniform redesign.
(Side note: I would like to see the NFL look into a “Heritage” game, which would not only feature teams in period-specific uniforms, but also in period-specific stadiums. For example, the Patriots could revert to their mid-60s look and play a game at Fenway, or even one of the college stadiums they used to use back then.)
“I would like to see the NFL look into a “Heritage” game, which would not only feature teams in period-specific uniforms, but also in period-specific stadiums.”
Great concept!
Sadly, there are so few venues like that left…would love to see any number of teams play the Eagles at Franklin Field – break out the white helmets!
“Browns defensive back Mike Ford wore compression sleeves patterned after the team’s socks”
– I remember a brief time when Browns returner extraordinaire Josh Cribbs wore actual Browns socks on his arms by cutting off the ends.
Thank you for turning on the Josh Cribbs’ memory bank!
Good photo of his arms: link
I don’t think Cribbs actually cut off the socks. I believe he wore link on his arms.
Dammit. That should have said “…he wore leg sleeves on his arms.” and the words “leg sleeves” would have linked to this photo: link
I forgot you can’t do links like that here anymore.
Looking at that photo of Mike Ford again, I’m fairly certain he’s doing the same thing Cribbs used to do – wearing leg sleeves on his arms. So he’s not wearing compression sleeves *patterned after* the team’s socks. He’s literally wearing the team’s socks on his arms.
Yup, I think that’s right.
Paul, does Uni Watch still sell socks that mimic NFL hosiery? I completely forgot about those. I might be interested in buying a pair or two of the ones modeled off the Browns.
No, sadly.
I’ve got a pair of “gently used” Browns-style socks that I’d be willing to part with. They aren’t the current style. They’re modeled after the ones the team wore with their brown jerseys before they moved to Baltimore.
if you’re interested, I’d just ask you to cover the cost of the postage and I could send them to you.
Maybe if teams didn’t adjust their uniform every time the wind changes direction, it would be a lot easier to keep the look consistent. I am not accusing the NFL of being the NBA or even Oregon, but it’s getting there slowly.
I have to disagree that this drives home the fact that they need to get rid of the mono blue. I know everyone’s tastes vary, and many don’t believe, as I do, that the pats current mono blue is the best look they’ve had, but all this pants thing proves is that the pats uniform organization is a mess and they can screw things up no matter what they wear.
Just curious, can you describe why you like mono uniforms, and more so, why you like matching dark jerseys and pants paired with a light-colored helmet?
As someone who cannot stand this look, I really am interested in why people do like it.
I’m curious too. Been a fan of the Pats since the early 90’s and this is by far the worst their unis have ever looked. I’d take the ’93 blue jerseys with red numbers over these, and they were practically illegible.
I’ll try to articulate, because think anyone who’s of a strong opinion should be able to. Firstly: beauty is in the eye yada yada, so I won’t assume I can sway your opinion. Second: it’s not a hard or general rule for me that I prefer mono looks. I LIKE many of them, and prefer a rare few, and some I find as awful as the majority of folks on here.
That said, here we go: the helmet not matching the mono (jersey and pants) look is almost a must because it saves it from being entirely monochrome. Here is where socks, high cuffs, and or shoes go a long way in making the difference between good and bad as well. The pats currently have big bold uni elements in big bold contrasting colors. That is helping this uniform go from gimmick to gorgeous. That is evident in the erroneous pants. They do not look good with the current navy too because they have a “yes there’s piping, but so what?” vibe to them. It’s not doing enough to offset all the blue. The navy is a beautiful color, but it does need help. Silver helmet, bold scarlet and white stripes and numbers are just what it needs to keep it from feeling too dark. It also, despite it being a mono look, has all the design elements of a classic, simple football jersey.
Now for my thoughts on mono in general: primary red needs big bold color elements to break it up. Chiefs? Nope never gross. Red helmet with red too and pants? Then add primary yellow? I’m top of it being too much red, it whiffs strongly of the Golden Arches and their clown boy. Arizona with the white helmet works better but they have an unattractive logo and a middling uni. If Stanford were to go mono cardinal with a white helmet now we’re getting somewhere because it’s a nice simple uni with a beautiful shade of red. Which brings me to my next point: I love color, which helps, but not all color is created equal. The vikes actual color rush uni (purple with gold numbers) was an incredible success in color theory but the uni design it was applied to stinks. Now that the broncos have the white shell, their mono orange look is stellar.
Now: the broncos in the white shell with the orange (throwback/rush) top and white pants (that match the throwback) would be their best look in a long while. However, the pats navy with those grey pants they wore recently looked bad because the grey was such a drab look compared to the navy and silver above it.
All this to say: I don’t prefer mono as a rule, but it can and often does look good. When it’s coupled with a nice uni design, and nice colors it becomes a very nice looking set. When it’s worn by a team that is replacing (pats) or adding to (broncos) a weak wardrobe, then I prefer it.
Is this the first year to have camo captaincy patches? I don’t recall seeing them before.
No, that’s been part of G.I. Joevember for many years.
Good ol’ Westley’s Bleche-Wite. My father always had that on hand (but usually in a plastic bottle by the time I remember) to clean tires. Hand-washing cars was at least a monthly occurrence when it wasn’t below freezing.
Paul or mods – does anyone monitor the forum or Technical Support submissions? The experience for paying members is actually worse than it is for non-paying ones, and there’s a thread about it that’s so far gone unnoticed, and at least one technical-support request that’s also gone unanswered.
On it.
McDermott was on the Pats’ practice squad in 2017, but played for other organizations until rejoining last season. Are the pants his? That’s seems unlikely, right? So the equipment manager just has old gear in the rotation that they’re handing out?
So I guess the Eagles don’t do the whole “make the Cowboys wear their blue jerseys” thing anymore…
You make it sound like it’s been a regular, standard thing for many years, but that’s never been the case. There were a few decades — the 1980s and ’90s — when they *sometimes* wore white at home against the Cowboys, maybe half the time. Since then, it’s been a rare occurrence, as you can see by looking up to DAL/PHI head-to-head history: link
The red, white and blue “Pat Patriot” throwbacks worn this year made it obvious that this was the best looking uni set at New England. If they’re worried about winning tradition, they aren’t wearing the unis from the Tom Brady/Patriot dynasty era anymore either. So their entire strategy seems rudderless and hapless, and their record confirms it.
“Now that the Panthers have a black helmet, I don’t understand why they’d go black over black with their silver helmet:”
Doesn’t this just confirm that the rules for when a team can wear an alternate helmet are nonsense? Supposedly they could wear the black helmet with their black (primary) jersey because it was being paired with black pants as a color rush alternate uniform. But obviously the black jersey over black pants is just a standard uniform pair for them (such that that even exists in the NFL these days).
At this point the NFL might as well just allow the uniform lawlessness of college football, as the rules keep on sliding and even then, are haphazardly enforced.
Longing for the days of no mono uniforms (except mono white) actual socks that contrast the pants, and home and road uniforms only, with the occasional special alt/throwback once a year.
I had the same thought – I agree that the black helmet with that jersey-pants combo would be their best look but the alternate helmet rules are like a Monty Python sketch and I can only assume they’re not allowed to wear the black helmet with a black jersey unless its a Thursday or if the black jersey is designated a colour rush jersey but not an alternate jersey but maybe a throwback jersey.
I’m pretty sure Jalen Hurts’ cleats are meant to be GI Jovember cleats, not tan. Though there’s been some overlap the last 20-30ish years with Army Green looking more tan, since a lot of the military’s activity has been in desert climates.
Yes, the “additional info here” link explains the backstory. But they’re still tan!
Prior service calls the tan BDU’s “Chocolate Chips”….
also cool name for (a) cat(s)…
Am I the only one who thought the Bengals uniforms looked super sharp with the orange socks? And a majority of players wearing them? Anyone else?
The orange socks looked extra bright, it really stood out
I thought both the Bengals and the Bills looked awesome last night. For me, the only way that matchup could’ve looked better is if the Bills wore white socks like they did last week.
By the way, I just looked up the Bills uni combos on Gridiron Uniform Database and have to say once again what an amazingly thorough site that is. So much great information!
The Bengals should ALWAYS wear orange socks (unless they decide to also wear orange pants).
I concur about socks…even though I do like their mono-black, the O/B/B/O is their best look since they refuse to fix the striping on the white pants (they should really go back to these):
link
Only 1 team ‘needs’ orange pants: The Browns! No to the Bengals adopting them, double no for the Broncos going back to them!
I thought last night’s game looked great!
The Broncos looked sharp with orange pants in their earlier days.
link
oh, totally. The striping pattern on the white pants makes zero sense. I’d still rather see them in white pants vs. black. As long as they don’t wear the black socks with them, I’m OK with the black pants.
Red Sox pitcher Dick Drago passed away and reading the article on him on the NY Lost site, there is an image of his baseball card in a road uniform, but I cannot identify the baseball stadium…can anyone identify?
link
Looks like Oakland pre Mt. Davis.
Looks like the Oakland Coliseum to
me.
The ’72 and ’73 Dolphins were, at least in my book, famous for their players wearing whatever version of their jersey struck their fancy at the moment and it didn’t seem to affect them on the field of play. So, no, I don’t think the Pats’ uni-issues suggest anything. In fact, I sort of like the fact that at least they don’t seem to care so much about their “brand” that they triple and quadruple check every player to make sure that what he’s wearing is something some a fan can purchase in the team store that afternoon. I’m not a Pats fan but if this keeps up I think I might become one. At least a little.
“Bleche-Wite” is such a goofy spelling. If I was trying to sell a product, I wouldn’t put “blech” in the name!
French’s yellow mustard is our favorite mustard but French’s ketchup isn’t as good as Heinz ketchup.
Dukes Mayo
zero sugar…superior…cool label…
Mike Ford’s compression sleeves with the stripes is exactly how the NFL should handle their sock situation. For guys who want to wear sleeves on their legs rather than socks, just have them mimic the stripes on them like these are. You’ll still have guys who want to wear traditional socks, but this gives an option for stripes on sleeves.
KEEP STRIPES ALIVE!!!
Colonel Mustard for the win.
Classic Cool, had a small version when I was but a wee one….
As for the Panthers, perhaps it’s because the black helmet looks as bad as when the wear blue tops and black pants! Actually the logo on the black helmet is barley visible. Sort of reminds me of the M. Marlins black jersey!
As great as the Giants road uniforms are, I almost wish they’d swap the gray facemasks out for white…almost.
Love the kitten updates and happy you’ve filled an empty hole in your heart Paul. I had to do the same thing three years ago
Those GI Joevember coaches’ jackets look awful, reminds me of brown paper grocery bags.
Jalen was wearing a pair of tan Jordan 11 cleats to color match all of the Salute to Service gear.