You’ll recall last week, UW reader, contributor, seer and designer Walter Helfer introduced his latest set of concepts, which he’s calling “Red Pill…Blue Pill.”
That set looked at the NHL. Today Walter is back with some redesigns for the NFL.
I’ll include Walter’s introduction from the first part with this article as well. Here’s Walter…
Red Pill, Blue Pill
by Walter Helfer
America’s colors are well chosen: Similar in value but chromatically dissonant. Ever since pundits started coloring their political maps with red or blue states, we have been conditioned to think of the relation of the two hues as binary, nearly as much as black and white.
Blue is cool; red is hot. On paper, blue is relaxing and stable, but red vibrates. Yet in the dark, the relationship is reversed: Red light is clear and easy to see, but blue is mysterious and fuzzy-edged.
In this spirit, I want to take a new look at teams that have chosen this color scheme, and flip the results. I hope this exercise gives insight into the designs teams use, and satisfy an urge to investigate how things would look had they made the opposite choice.
Today I am going to look at football teams, with baseball, and basketball to follow.
BUFFALO BILLS
The Bills Mafia may chafe at a change being thrust on them by their bitter rivals; who could blame them? In my defense, red football teams with blue helmets aren’t all that common. (I can’t ever recall seeing a team with blue helmets, white jerseys and red pants.) A detail which stands out is Buffalo’s sparing use of navy blue outlines confined to the jerseys and socks.
NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS (1)
NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS (2)
NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS (3)
Many a Uni Watcher has campaigned for a Pat Patriot uniform with blue primary. Unlike them, I don’t subscribe to the idea that the Pats’ jerseys are skeuomorphs of the Colonists’ uniforms. Red just looks good. But since I cooked up this project, I admit I had to see how the opposite choice comes out. The uniform with the hoops has numbers that are easy to read, and have copious red trim. I also included a riff on the Steve Grogan-era uniforms, and gambled on red numerals with white trim. These might get a thumbs-down from fans in the cheap seats, but I have to dare, don’t I? Then, finally, for shits and giggles, I cooked up a red-based version on the dynasty uniforms. I only kept the fat blue stripe running from the shoulder horns to the player’s knees.
NEW YORK GIANTS (1)
NEW YORK GIANTS (2)
Completely unprepared for the results of this conversion. All I can say is: I understand why lipstick is usually red. Used judiciously, it’s a peppy accent. Slathered all over the canvas, your eyes beg for mercy. Blue is not spicy, and it’s totally overwhelmed. However, the white uniforms give Giants’ fans what they have craved for years. Sub in the blue helmet, and you have the road uniform for the next decade. The red player’s name is crucial, like the gold names on the Steelers’ jerseys.
Thanks Walter! Fun project — looking forward to your take on the additional sports.
Readers? What say you?
What about the Texans?
I have previously mentioned (in the comments section) the Texans are exempt from this project, since they have taken it upon themselves to furnish “Red Pill/Blue Pill” uniforms of their own. Now might be a good time to mention that baseball teams with the Red Sox & Braves color scheme are also exempt, since I consider navy blue to be a stand-in for black. Dark blue, on the other hand, is in play.
New England Patriots number 2 would have worked great for the 1974 Florida Blazers too, nice work Mr. Helfer.
“(I can’t ever recall seeing a team with blue helmets, white jerseys and red pants.)”
Denver at least came close!
In fact, Denver is so close, I wanted to create an exception for the Mets and provide them with orange uniforms. I would have called them the Florida Specials.
The Mets have gone partial orange, with orange Los Mets jerseys.
Use to joke that if they went with reverse colors, orange cap & jersey, they could wear them on Saturday home games. And do a “Creamsicle Saturday” and give away orange creamsicles to any fan that wore orange to the game.
Thank you for showing me what I knew subconsciously for decades: the Pat Patriots should have had blue shirts all along! Red was the British color, not the Patriots!
Yes, the first Patriots look is what they should have worn in 1960, and Buffalo should have been in red.
And although I love the current Pats unis, what you drew is what they should be wearing now. Fantastic.
I agree. In the Revolutionary war, the patriots, in blue, fought against the redcoats of England. So I’ve always thought choosing red as their main color made no sense for the Patriots.
As far as the red NY Giants jerseys go, I suspect that back in the 40s/early 50s plain red jerseys were just an easy alternative when playing blue jersey teams. It wasn’t so much an official road jersey as much as a conflict jersey, though almost always used on the road. The Detroit Lions and Baltimore Colts also had a red road jerseys, while the Cardinals had a set of plain blue road jerseys. When the league mandated color/white jersey sets, the Giants went with red as the primary color on the white unis.
I agree. Pat Patriot himself was wearing blue on the helmet! Why they chose red was beyond me. And before my time as well.
They chose red because the team for the Massachusetts area at the time was the New York Giants who wore blue. This way they could differentiate themselves from the primary professional football team in the area.
But yes the Patriots should be a base blue team as they are now. If they would just where their gray pants every time they where the blue jerseys they’d be set. Oh and add an UCLA stripe (red-blue-red on white) sock to pair with the road blue pants and everything would be perfect with their current uniforms.
based on your logic red should not be in their color scheme at all.
I prefer the Patriots #1 and #2 to there current uniform.
their
Great stuff, as always, Walter! Whenever my “Dressed for the Season” Fourth of July piece (link) has been run, someone has inevitably mentioned that the New England Patriots uniforms I included would look more “patriotic” if the primary jersey color was blue, not red. I’ve always defended primarily red uniforms as “patriotic.” But looking at your mock-ups, I have to admit, the blue jerseys do feel a little more patriotic, especially Version 1. I’d love to see those as part of an NFL “Reverse Retro” program.
Let me address the blue Pats’ jerseys with an anecdote from 1979. The NBA Sixers retired their star-spangled uniforms for something more conservative. I saw an early season game with the white jerseys and thought, “Oh, boring. The road blues are going to be drab.” Imagine my reaction when the first road game introduced spiffy red uniforms. “They can do that?” Apparently, yes.
To me, blue dark uniforms are the knee-jerk response to a RWB color scheme; red is a little more outside the box.
I used to wonder what the blue-helmeted Oilers would have looked like with a red jersey. I think it would have been great, as good as Ole Miss in their best look.
I like how it looks on Buffalo, but I’d swap the colors on the logo as well.
In the Houston Oilers’ first preseason game in 1960, about half their jerseys were stolen before the game. Their opponent, the Dallas Texans, lent the Oilers their red jerseys (as the away team, they were scheduled to wear white) for the game. If any color pictures exist, you might be able to find out.
The Giants look like the Detroit Lions with a red helmet in the last one.
I am proud to have finally visualized what so many on this site have only discussed. Please give me credit when you assault the New England Patriots with your suggestions!
For a team called the Patriots, who fought against an army called the Red Coats, wearing red never seemed to make sense, especially when their logo of a Patriot football player is also wearing blue, so this seems like the logical look for them.
In 1960, the other three teams in the AFL East (Bills, Titans, and Oilers) all wore blue, so red would have been distinctive for the Patriots.
The New York Giants are why. The Giants were the primary team for the region the Patriots were going into so they needed a different primary color than the Giants.