Good Saturday morning, Uni Watchers. I hope everyone has had a good week and you’re looking forward to a LOT of NFL Playoff Action for “Super Wild Card Weekend” once again featuring two full days and one night of NFL Wild Card games. There are two games today (Cleveland at Houston and Miami in KC), three tomorrow (Pittsburgh at Buffalo, Green Bay in Dallas, and the Rams in Detorit), and the MNF finale with Philly heading to Tampa, on Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. Day. Interestingly, last year during WC Weekend, the Bucs played host to Dallas on Dr. King Day, making this the second straight MLK Day with the Bucs hosting a Wild Card game.
Wild Card Weekend also means it’s time for me to contunue my annual exercise in futility ritual of picking the winners of all Wild Card games in the only way that ever makes sense on this particular website: by better uni, of course. I usually break (but barely) the 50% correct barrier for the entire post season, although the past two years I’ve gone 8-5 over the course of the playoffs. If you want to see my WC picks for 2023, 2022 or 2021 you can. I’ll continue to pick the winners through the Super Bowl, although this will be the only time you have to suffer through a whole article time I do so as a lede.
What makes a “better” uni? Well, that’s all in the eye of the beholder — you may (and probably should) disagree with some of my selections. Feel free to do so in the comments below.
As usual, I picked these games late Friday. As of that time, two of the six teams had not revealed their pants selections (which can sometimes affect my choices), based on the GUD; I’ll make my picks without that info, as sometimes pants color determines my selection, and in those cases I’ll note it if there is a difference based on selection.
UPDATE #1: The Bills/Steelers game has been moved to MONDAY at 4:30 pm due to weather.
UPDATE #2: According to the GUD, the Eagles have declared they will wear white pants and socks against Tampa Bay.
UPDATE #3: The Rams will wear their yellow pants vs. Detroit
Let’s get started!
SATURDAY, JANURARY 13, 2024
Cleveland Browns at Houston Texans
Time: 4:30 pm ET
TV: NBC
SPREAD: CLE -2
Will this game be our last look at the Houston unis before their anticipated 2024 redesign? Based on uni-matchup it will be. The Texans will be wearing their navy jerseys over white pants and socks, the same look they wore in their Christmas Eve tilt against Cleveland. The Browns won that game, in Houston, by a score of 36-22. And what did the Brownies wear for that game? You guessed it: orange/white/orange. Even if the Browns hadn’t won that game (although if they had lost, I bet they wouldn’t repeat this combo), I’d still take them as their unis look better. I’d pick them even if they wore white pants, and it would have been close, but I’d still take Cleveland in brown pants. I don’t hate the current Texans unis (and I am fearful for what may come this fall), but they’re just a level below the Browns. And wearing white socks with white pants hurts the Texans even more here.
THE PICK AGAINST THE SPREAD: Cleveland giving 2
Time: 8:00 pm ET
TV: Peacock
SPREAD: KC -4.5
In its infinite wisdom, NBC has decided to put this game on their Peacock streaming service (so if you’re not subscribed and want to pay to see the game, it’s $5/month), with only fans in KC and Miami markets getting the game on broadcast TV. And in case you’re not following the weather, it’s going to be brutally cold, possibly the coldest game in history for both franchises. Not that this will factor into my selection. The Dolphins have chosen to wear aqua pants and socks, which to me is their worst possible look. It’s understandable, since these two teams met on November 5 of this season, with the Dolphins going mono-white in losing to KC 21-14 (that game was played in Germany). While I hate that KC still has the arrowhead on their hats, and fans still do the “chop” (including, very disburbingly, in Germany), I have to admit their unis are pretty tight. So this is a tough call. If Miami had either gone with white pants or socks, instead of the aqua yoga pants look, I’d take them in a heartbeat. Here it’s almost a coin flip, but the ever-so-narrow edge goes to KC, in a grudging call.
THE PICK AGAINST THE SPREAD: KC giving 4.5
SUNDAY, JANUARY 14, 2024
Pittsburgh Steelers at Buffalo Bills
Time: 1:00 pm ET
TV: CBS
SPREAD: BUF -10
While the KC/Miami game may just be brually cold, it won’t be much better in Buffalo, but we’re almost basically guaranteed of a snow game! It’ll be cold and very windy, too. Again, none of that factors into my pick. And this is a perfect example of how pants and socks effect my pick — Buffalo is wearing their absolute BEST combo of white/blue/white/blue, and when they go with this look, that’s a Top-10 uni in the NFL. Pittsburgh is always solid, although their home uniform is (IMO) better than their road. Had the Bills chosen ANY OTHER COMBO (although I don’t hate their white/blue/blue/white look). But white over mono-blue or white/blue/white/white (a look they thankfully did not wear in 2023-4) would have given this one to Pitt. Since they’re wearing their Sunday best, though, I’m taking the Bills in a (hopefully) winter wonderland.
THE PICK AGAINST THE SPREAD: Buffalo giving 10
UPDATE: Due to an anticipated massive winter storm, this game has been moved to MONDAY at 4:30 pm
Green Bay Packers at Dallas Cowboys
Time: 4:30 pm ET
TV: FOX
SPREAD: DAL -7
The weekend’s best looking matchup (although Buffalo/Pitt will be close) is a look we’ve seen on the gridiron countless times before: Dallas in their classic home whites vs. Green Bay in their gorgeous green and gold. And although I haven’t ranked NFL uniforms in years, the I’ve always felt the Packers home uniforms are the best in the NFL, so it really wouldn’t matter who they play or what they wear — I’d be picking the Pack. Dallas’ home uni would win more than a few matchups, but not here. This one will be glorious, and GB will cover.
THE PICK AGAINST THE SPREAD: GB +7
Los Angeles Rams at Detroit Lions
Time: 8:00 pm ET
TV: NBC
SPREAD: DET -3
Oh what could be…if ONLY the Lions were to go with their silver/blue/silver-gray, this would be no contest. But these are not your daddy’s Lions, and they’ve chosen to go Monolulu Blue. That makes this one much trickier. And as of Friday evening, the Rams still haven’t announced their pants color — I’m not expecting them to wear their “bone” pants (as they’ve never worn those with the white tops), so the question is whether they’ll go with their “sol” (yellow) set, or their royal set, and it does make a difference. The Rams unis, while still far from good, do have two decent “modern” combos: white over yellow on the road, and blue over yellow at home. So, IF the Rams go with their yellow britches, I’m going to give them the edge. Since we know Detroit is in Monolulu Blue, if the Rams go with blue socks and pants (so both teams would be mono-blue from the waist down), then I’m going to give the edge to the Lions…begrudgingly. Let us pray the Rams give us their much-more-aesthetically-pleasing look. So, you get two picks here.
THE PICK AGAINST THE SPREAD: DET -3 (LAR blue pants/socks) LAR +3 (LAR in yellow pants)
UPDATE: The Rams are wearing YELLOW PANTS
MONDAY, JANUARY 15, 2024
Pittsburgh Steelers at Buffalo Bills
Time: 4:30 pm ET
TV: CBS
SPREAD: BUF -10
While the KC/Miami game may just be brually cold, it won’t be much better in Buffalo, but we’re almost basically guaranteed of a snow game! It’ll be cold and very windy, too. Again, none of that factors into my pick. And this is a perfect example of how pants and socks effect my pick — Buffalo is wearing their absolute BEST combo of white/blue/white/blue, and when they go with this look, that’s a Top-10 uni in the NFL. Pittsburgh is always solid, although their home uniform is (IMO) better than their road. Had the Bills chosen ANY OTHER COMBO (although I don’t hate their white/blue/blue/white look). But white over mono-blue or white/blue/white/white (a look they thankfully did not wear in 2023-4) would have given this one to Pitt. Since they’re wearing their Sunday best, though, I’m taking the Bills in a (hopefully) winter wonderland.
THE PICK AGAINST THE SPREAD: Buffalo giving 10
Philadelphia Eagles at Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Time: 8:15 pm ET
TV: ESPN
SPREAD: PHI -3
Here’s another game for which one team’s pants haven’t been announced, but this time it won’t affect my pick. Tampa has, perhaps surprisingly, decided to wear pewter/red/pewter (a look they only wore twice this season), but in both of those wearings, the team won. Guess they’re playing the “hot” hand. Philly, who faded a bit down the stretch, hasn’t announced their pants choice (either white or green — although once this season they black pants with white tops — and lost embarassingly to the Jets). I’m going to assume they will not wear black this time. They’ve worn white over white four times, and white over green thrice. In white/white, their record is 4-0, while in white/green, they’re a pedestrian 1-2 (including losses the last two times they wore white/green). I’m going to guess they’ll go white/white for this one. I know some folks love the Bucs in pewter/red/pewter, but the color pants they wear is closer to anthracite, and I much prefer them in red over white. I don’t love Philly when they wear white pants AND socks, but I still prefer it to TB in red/pewter. And the Eagles in white/green looks great. If Tampa Bay had gone with white pants, I’d have taken them, but not in the anthracite/pewter. It’s close, especially if Philly wears white pants, but white/white or white/green gets the edge either way.
UPDATE: The Eagles have announced they will wear white pants and socks.
THE PICK AGAINST THE SPREAD: PHI -3
And there you have it. My picks for Wild Card Weekend, based on the better uni. I’ll continue picking “better uni” winners for the remainder of the playoffs and through the Supe, but this is the only time I’ll make you suffer through do so as a lede.
Feel free to disagree in the comments below.
The Bucs’ pewter pants are gorgeous and should always be worn with any jersey, red or white. I have no idea why anyone would think they should wear white pants for any reason.
Exactly.There is no reason for them even have white pants. They have a perfectly balanced look with the pants matching the helmet.Thats got to be a typo.
I bet that Phil would agree with you if this was the pre-Nike, pewter pants of old. But Nike has really messed this color up; it’s more of a brown than a pewter. I still think it looks better than white pants myself but I get where Phil is coming from.
It’s already been addressed by Austin, but the reason I don’t like the “pewter” pants was already described in my writeup: they look more like anthracite than pewter. I don’t so much mind it if they go pewter/WHITE/”pewter”, but not when it’s pewter/red/pewter. If Nike were able to produce the color worn pre-Nike (or even if they could replicate their 2012 shade: link), I’d pick it.
Their current shade of pewter? (link)
Too dark (and it doesn’t match the helmet shade either)
YVVM
… did you mean YMMV?
No…he meant what he said!
; )
If their pants matched the metallic pewter of their helmet I’d agree with you. However, IMHO their pants look like a strange brown color. Nike has a hard time with metallic pants. For some reason they can do a metallic for the Cowboys, even if it’s a blue/silver that doesn’t match their silver helmet.
I don’t think I have ever heard of anyone preferring Pewter/Red/White for the Buccaneers.
Come to think of it, I can’t really recall any good looks when the helmet, jersey, and pants are all different colors.
I’m sorry you disagree with my opinion, but that’s totally fine. It’s not that I don’t like the team in pewter/red/pewter per se — it’s that what they’re wearing isn’t pewter. Most people consider Pewter to be a much lighter color (like what they wore pre-2012); even if you think “pewter” is a darker hue (as some of these are: link), none of those are as dark as what the Bucs currently wear. I’ve likened their current pewter to anthracite (link). If they lightened it enough to match the helmet, I’d be fine with it (and I’m fine with it when they wear those pants with the white shirt). Just don’t like it with the red.
As far as any “good looks” when the helmet, jersey and pants are all different colors, I think these are all quite nice:
link
link
link
link
link
And that’s just the home unis (and there are more). There are also several road looks that are good…
link
link
and cetera…
I have never agreed more with Phil than right here.
And I also loved Buffalo’s red/white/blue combo, Denver’s blue/white/orange, and others.
Wyoming’s white/brown/yellow, Ole Miss in navy/red/gray or navy/white/gray… I could go on and on.
“THE PICK AGAINST THE SPREAD: Cleveland giving 9.5”
Wrong spread in the pick.
Good catch — I had it correct at the top (CLE -2). Now fixed.
Phil—I know that GUD has the Bucs wearing red over pewter, but I can’t find anything online to indicate that to be so. The previous three seasons, the Bucs have gone white over pewter for every playoff game, even their home playoff games (and even as the home team in the Super Bowl). So if they go white over pewter, I’m assuming you’re still taking the Eagles in green jerseys with white pants and socks?
link
Welp.
side note: i hate how the GUD have done socks ~ it’s inconsistent for such a detailed site
Guess the scoreboard:
January 15, 1994
Raiders at Bills
Final Score: 29-23 Bills won
Temperature -32 degrees with wind chill
Always one of my favorite posts of the football season. Thank you! Picks aside, two big time agree from me: 1) The Texans uniforms, while not great, are underrated and I too am nervous about way they’ll roll out next year. 2) If the Rams would simply ALWAYS wear yellow pants (and also no crappy bone jersey), their uniforms would be very acceptable.
Just want the football gods to give me what I want. The improbable Super Bowl matchup is closer to reality than maybe ever. Browns vs. Lions!
Make no sense to me that the Lions are going monohonolulu. Been over 30 years since they had a home playoff game. Wear blue over grey!
Idk what it is about the Buffalo blue these days, but I really don’t love it. It’s almost like an electric cobalt blue, and I don’t think it complements red well. Compare it to the blue jerseys in the GTGFTS section – much better IMO!
Idk what it is about the Buffalo blue these days, but I really don’t love it. It’s almost like an electric cobalt blue, and I don’t think it complements red well. Compare it to the blue jerseys in the GTGFTS section – much better IMO!
The bears look 1,000 times better in white pants.
Concur, comrade!
With the current C or the toilet seat on the helmet-makes little difference.
Toilet seat… never heard that one before. And I prefer it to the now 50-year-old current C.
Usually I have a firm stance one way or the other, but for the Bears, I think they look equally fantastic with either white or blue pants. If I HAD to pick one I would say…white pants.
That’s progress!
But if the Bears wear white pants, it should be with the blue socks. More old-school.
The Bears haven’t worn that look (b/w/w) since 2009(!) link
I’m wondering, since sock protocol (and styles) have changed since then, if the team would wear striped socks at all with it (I’m picturing a lot of solid white spandex pants and socks, or hopefully…solid blue socks with the white pants). But the Bears are one of the few teams who still do go with striped socks…and the protocol is the socks are dictated by the jersey, not the pants. So they wear the “white” striped socks with the white jersey, even if paired with white pants (which, as I said, they haven’t done since 2009). But each jersey has specific sock color/stiriping. On the off chance they go white jersey/pants, I’d prefer they go with the blue socks they normally wear with the blue jersey and white pants.
Confused about this Bills comment – “blue/blue/white/white (a look they thankfully did not wear in 2023-4)” – blue helmets?
Yeah, that was a mistake on my part — I meant “white/blue/white/white” — now fixed. But they didn’t wear the white/blue/white/white combo in 2023-4.
GTGFTU – December 16,1966 Chiefs at Dolphins. KC won 19 – 18. You can see even in a b&w photo the Dolphins are wearing their 1st season uniforms with the aqua/orange/aqua stripes; the helmets have wider stripes and the dolphin outside the sun decal they started using in their 4th regular season game.
Just imagine if for some divine reason, NFL allowed the Bucs and Eagles to go Creamsicle vs Kelly Green.
That would be great, even though for some reason the Eagles couldn’t get their jersey and helmet to match up like their original kelly green uniforms. And the Bucs should just convert their creamsicles to be their main uniforms.
Much prefer the current Bucs and Birds sets…the Bucco Bruces and Braman Birds are nostalgic, but not all that terrific.
“Green Bay Packers at Dallas Cowobys”
Cowboys is misspelled
Ugh. Now fixed. Thanks.
As a German, I‘m really wondering why it is “very disturbing” when fans here do the “chop”? Would you say that too, if the game was played in Italy?
In Germany, we are very aware of our dark past between the years 1939 and 1945. And you can be sure, that we are constantly reminded of it, not only in school, but also in mass on an almost daily basis.
But I have the feeling, today‘s woke people love to feel offended even by things that couldn‘t be more far from what they make of it. The “chop” is a gesture to show fandom and to support a team. Everything beyond is your interpretation.
Do you really believe, Native Americans feel more hurt when they see us do that on one occasion?
Maybe you should invest some time in German history past 1945 instead of insulting fans.
Thanks for your thoughts Alex. I apologize if you took this the wrong way. My point had nothing to do with the fact that the game was played in Germany (I’d feel the same if it were played in England or Mexico, both of which have hosted NFL games). And yes, I’d feel this way if the game were played in Italy. What disturbed me was the fact that KC fans (I figured they just followed the team abroad) would bring their “chant” and perform it during the game. It’s bad enough they do the chant in KC (and it’s not just KC, they do the chant in Atlanta baseball games too; I’m not a fan of it being done at FSU, although at least there the team partners with the Seminole Tribe and they seem to be OK with it). Has nothing to do specifically with Germany.
Again, I apologize if you thought I was speaking about Germans or Germany — the comment was that I was disturbed KC fans were doing the chant, regardless of the location.
Solid picks.
What I don’t get though, is if a game is close shouldn’t you be taking the spread into consideration. You are just going with the “better” uniform and giving or taking the points regardless of the spread. For example, if Miami-KC is a tossup, shouldn’t you take Miami with the points? KC can still win, but it is tight, as you note.
With Miami’s current uniforms, this actually is their best look for me. And if there’s lots of snow, you’ll be glad they’re not going full mayo.
I wasn’t a huge fan of the Marino-era aqua pants, though.
In the Miami vs KC section, understandable is misspelled as “understandible”
Hey phill so I disagree with the white jersey white pants looks for one reason. For some reason it looks odd to me when a teams helmet is colored to where CWW rather then CWC now if you have a white helmet I like the all white looks but not with the colored helmet in this case the eagles and bears
In many, if not most cases, I love it when helmets match pants (when worn with a white jersey). But there are a few (KC, Chicago, Minnesota off the top of my head) where I prefer color/white/white. I’m especially against it when teams pair their dark pants with same color socks (giving that yoga pants look), even if the helmet is the same color as the pants. It’s definitely not all teams, just a few.
The yoga pant affect is why the colored pant look isn’t as good as in the past. But the same thing happens now with white pants. I’m guessing half or more of the KC players would wear white high socks, with the remainder wearing red. Which goes against the idea of uniforms actually being uniform.
I agree 100%
Players should only be allowed to wear spandex pants (or “leg sleeves”) if they’re covered by actual socks. And those socks should be in a contrasting color (unless a team specifically wears same color socks; even then I don’t like that look).
Unfortunately, that horse left the barn once the NFL allowed solid color socks when they introduced the Color Rush program in 2015. At first, those were strictly limited to CR unis, but now they’ve spread to all uni sets.
Off-topic, so I won’t be surprised if you whack this, but I’d just like to thank Roger Goodell for the big double-fisted F-YOU he gave to fans by putting tonight’s game on Peacock.
But I suppose economic pressures may have forced his hand because, you know, the NFL just doesn’t make enough money already.
Glass Bowl.
The Bears’ navy/white/navy is THE best road look in the NFL. Bar none. And I’m a Packers fan.
Funny you should say that, because earlier I was going to say, wear the blue pants for road games out of division, but wear white pants in Minnesota, Detroit and… Green Bay.
These are gaining support for being considered the best in away attire (for me, they’re top-notch):
link
Jersey A when they’re away…an easy A!
As a Comcast victim…er…customer, Peacock comes as a “free” add-on to my list of grievances…er…services.
Nice to see that Goddell is consistently a twit, in all things.
Cleveland would look even better with white facemasks.
I loathe the Texans as a franchise, I love their current uniforms. Cleveland is the one team that should own orange pants…but they should only be worn with the brown tops. (Late)Pick- HOU.
Miami should not even possess aqua bottoms…but going up against KC’s homes is a tough look for many teams to beat. Pick – Chiefs.
Remember when Pittsburgh socks were black/white? For losing those, they lose my support. Pick – Buffalo.
Betting against the Pack’s green-over-yellow is unwise. Someday they will become a gray mask team again and become virtually unbeatable! Pick- GB.
It matters not what pants neo-LA brung to Motown…mono-lulu is a mono-no-no. Pick – Rams.
Come playoff time I’d rather see the Bucs go white/pewter (aka: Shades of Ronde Barber) when they play Philadel-fy-a…the red tops should stop the blanc Birds in this one. Pick – TB.
Let’s just hope the Rams do the right thing and wear yellow pants. The royal blue yoga pants look is brutal for both teams. Let’s hope only one team has it.
Phil, I’m sure others have mentioned this before, but “Pitt” is used to refer to the college, not the professional teams.
Well aware. I just wanted to type something besides “Pittsburgh” or “Steelers” (I suppose I could have said “Steeltown” or “Yinz” or “Stillers” too…)
It is possible that replacing all Native American names and iconography is effectively erasing them from the culture? The arrowhead is a fairly neutral image, so I do not understand its status as being so offensive. What values and qualities do these names and images promote? Are they, for the most part, positive – concepts all cultures can identify with? Why would a team deliberately name itself something offensive? The Chiefs’ helmet’s real problem is there is no yellow to connect it to the jersey, pants, or socks.
KC itself has addressed this: “Though the name ‘Chiefs’ did not originate as a reference to American Indians, the franchise connected a significant portion of its promotional activities and imagery to American Indian culture. And in several instances, particularly in the early years of the franchise, these actions played on harmful stereotypes.” (link)
Though they contend “Chiefs” was NOT a reference to the first inhabitants of this continent, they DO acknowledge it is problematic. And if it was not a reference to Native Peoples, why do they use an arrowhead as a logo?
I don’t necessarily blame the team for the fans “tomahawk chant,” they certainly don’t seem to discourage it. And you cannot argue that their logo when they FIRST MOVED TO KC (link) wasn’t offensive or at the very least, a harmful stereotype.
It’s all very convenient to distance themselves from the Native American imagery and name, but they can’t erase this past.
I appreciate that the team is trying to change and engage in “a dialogue with the American Indian Community Working Group, a collection of leaders from a diverse group of American Indian communities in Kansas City and the surrounding area. The club’s leadership asked the Working Group to educate them on the key issues facing Indian Country, to evaluate club practices and traditions including the game-day presentation, and to offer guidance and direction on ways the club could better honor American Indian culture.”
But until the war chant stops and the team removes the arrowhead from their helmets (everything below the neck is fine, good even!), I’ll continue to take a less than positive view of their efforts.
Fair enough. But they really need a little yellow on their helmets. That’s bothered me for years!
Kinda like the helmet on the right? link
(From my 2/3/2/3 project)
I appreciate that look, but I like their current set. I have always liked a color connection between jerseys, pants, and helmets. The Chiefs’ helmets are red, black, and white while their jerseys and pants have no black. It’s a minor quibble, but I can’t not see it. Have a great evening.
Show me a red helmet, white Missouri decal, yellow star where KC oughta be…and white facemask.
Speaking of helmets, Mahomes helmet cracked, which I’ve never seen before. And now the backup helmet doesn’t fit, crazy stuff.
AS a Bear fan-all white-absolutely not!!