Good morning, Uni Watchers. I hope everyone had a good Monday.
Yesterday afternoon, Social Media denizens began noticing that on the new EA Sports Madden 25 game, users were able to add an orange pants option for the Cincinnati Bengals. This got people asking, “Did Madden just leak a new set of pants for the Bengals?”
By clicking on the “Nike Home Alternate Pants” tab, users were presented with the option to select orange britches.
The team originally played coy with the leak…
Source? 🤨 https://t.co/jXZ2tvVDrV
— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) August 12, 2024
But soon confirmed that the orange pants are, in fact, legit…
Welp. Cat’s out of the bag. pic.twitter.com/gtVx2zPLy6
— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) August 12, 2024
Wow. I have been hoping the Bengals would add a set of orange pants since they redesigned a couple years ago. But I’m sure the team wasn’t expecting the news to come via Twitter leaks.
You’ll note in one of the photos above, the team builder shows the Bengals pairing the orange pants with both their black and orange jerseys. Since pants don’t fall under the “alternate” jersey or helmet rules, they would be able to wear them with any of their three jersey options: black, white or orange. In fact, they could wear them with all three, if they so choose.
It didn’t take long for a few Madden mockups of the Bengals in a mono-orange getup to appear. Let me be the first to say that while I’m 100% behind the orange pants option, I am 100% opposed to them creating an all-orange Color Rush uniform.
Just no.
However, I would love to see the team pair the new orange pants with either the black jersey or the white jersey. Especially if the team were to wear contrasting color socks.
Here’s how either of those would possibly look on the field:
The orange/black/orange/black look is particularly nice (and would be outstanding for a near-Hallowe’en game).
And the orange/white/orange/black look is pretty sweet too.
Last week, the Bengals announced they would only wear their White Bengal alternate one time this season, after having worn it twice in 2022 and 2023. I noted at the time, that left two games in which the Bengals could wear their orange jerseys (which they had done only once in 2022 and 2023). Since their new uniforms were introduced in 2021, the team have paired their orange jerseys with both the white and black pants.
With the new orange pants option, the team could wear the orange jerseys with them. When the team announced they’d only wear the white helmet alternate uniform once, I was expecting them to wear the orange jersey with the white and black pants — and I hope that’s the case. Because as awesome as the orange pants option is, I don’t think any but the craziest uniform fanatic would ever want to see this:
Even if they wore black socks with that, it’s still too much orange. But with the black or white jersey? Sign me up. This brings the total number of NFL teams with orange pants options to three: the Browns, Broncos and Bengals.
What do you guys think? I can already predict how some of you will react, but I’m genuinely curious what you think of the orange pants option. And with which jersey(s) would you like to see it paired? And do any of you really want to see a complete orange-out, as has been shown in some of those Madden screen caps?
The floor is yours…
GTGFTU: 10/27/1974, Shea Stadium; Rams 20, Jets 13.
Correct, 1974 was the last year the Jets wore stripes on their socks during the Namath era.
It’s also the only time the Jets faced the Rams in those uniforms during the Namath era. They played each other in L.A. in 1970 when the Rams were still in blue and white; the Rams wore white jerseys in that game, and Namath didn’t play.
Is that the time Joe Namath missed the game because he was hanging out with Bobby Brady, because Cindy wrote Namath a letter telling him Bobby was dying?
Jimmy wins with the Brady Bunch reference.
Thank you Ron! when I got the flue in 6th grade and Joe Namath was in town to play Washington, Joe didn’t come to visit me and my father actually knew him from his time with the Jets. I guess my sister never mailed the letter!
I’m good with the orange britches. Just as long as they are paired with the black or white jersey.
I agree with Jeff on combos. Cincy has such an awesome helment and aesthetic
GTGFTS
8 Sep 1985
Pete Rose gets career hit no. 4,191, tying Ty Cobb for the most all-time.
link
Several years later, MLB research uncovered that Cobb was erroneously credited with two extra hits because an old box score from during his career was accidentally counted twice, and he happened to have two hits that day. So Cobb’s official final total was 4,189. Which means all the hoopla surrounding Rose passing Cobb was off by two hits. And that affects things like who has Rose’s 4,190, because that’s the true record-breaking baseball. And the spot where 4,192 hit the turf at Riverfront Stadium was marked (probably inaccurately, if you read the stories), and I have to assume was cut out of the turf and maybe(?) is displayed at the Reds Hall of Fame. I don’t remember where Rose’s 4,190 occurred, but I pretty much guarantee that nothing exists from that hits landing spot. Hard to imagine why MLB never, ever talks about how all of this got screwed up.
Rose had two hits in this game, so 4,190 was in the first inning at Wrigley Field, 9/8/85, off Reggie Patterson. Had we known Cobb’s real hit total, we would almost certainly not remember Eric Show. (Though he was pretty good for a few years.)
My lasting memory of Show is Andre Dawson trying to kill him at Wrigley a few years later.
MLB knew about the discrepancy a few years BEFORE Rose hit the record “4,192”, not something that came to light after. They basically said they couldn’t be confident in changing a record 70 years later so they kept it as Cobb having 4,191 and let Pete continue to chase 4,192 for good measure.
Total Mandela Effect for me with the orange pants, I thought Cincy had those during their short AFL tenure, but GUD tells me no.
I will take orange/white/orange and orange/black/orange easily, but orange/orange/orange is a hard pass.
I mean a bengal tiger is orange from head to toe so why not follow in that direction. While I do want to see it it should only be worn once if your gonna mono it. And then mix and match from then on. Also in my opinion orange/black/orange should be the Cincinnati primary home uniform look
My reasoning is because it’s a football uniform and not a Halloween costume.
OH LORD NO. Orange over orange? How about some lime green alts too?
Seahawks from a few years ago want to have a word with you.
White over orange, absolutely! Then again, I’m of the opinion that the Bengals really should be an orange team and wear that orange jersey full time.
I like the concept. While these can be used to create an extremely orange uni, they have a lot of utility with the Black and White jerseys. I actually think the colored pants should be used if teams are going with a black top instead of the unitard effect with black over black. It looks great on the Steelers, Saints, and Ravens so more teams should try it.
I don’t want to see the orange color rush, but I think these will compliment the rest of their site nicely.
Working from my memories as a 12-year-old baseball fan, I seem to recall there were a handful of teams that had the batterman logo in 1991. The Giants and Brewers definitely, and I think the Angels and Rangers may have as well. No real rhyme or reason, but it was definitely in the 5-7 team range.
I believe the Astros did too. I know when I got my White Sox 5950 for my birthday in 1991 it was on there, but that was not consistent either (a friend of mine had the same hat without the batterman)
I totally agree with the idea of the mono orange working because a tiger is all orange, minus the white stomach. I also actually like the look more than the black/orange combo. Something just feels off with that one for me for some reason. Pair the orange pants with the white jersey and a one-off with the orange and I’d be good.
At this point, Bengals should just go “FULL” tiger stripe on the orange pants, like Zubaz…
+1
White over orange and black over orange will both look spectacular, but we all know that we’re going to see mono-orange at least once.
as awesome as the orange pants option is, I don’t think any but the craziest uniform fanatic would ever want to see this
Call me crazy then.
Same as when the Ravens wear all black to look like a raven, the Bengals in all orange with all of those stripes will look like a tiger. I don’t mind mono *done right*, and in both cases, it’s very right.
Agreed with this, and I instantly thought of the Ravens as well. It’s a unique little nod when a team is able to essentially mimic the animal they’re named after. The Bengals’ stripes make it work especially well.
But do you guys like the “White Bengal” look?
That mimics an actual animal in nature (quite well in fact). Based on this logic, if you love the all Orange Bengal look, you should also love the White Bengal look as well.
If not, why not?
I don’t, because I only like a handful of head-to-toe white unis.
Colts, Dolphins, Namath-era Jets, Auburn… maybe one or two others.
In theory, I should like the zebra look, but one, only the officials should look like zebras, and two, if you have the option between mono white and mono orange, you take the orange.
So it’s not the “actually looking like the animal for which they’re named” look. It’s just that you don’t like white uniforms.
Got it.
Because they aren’t the Cincinnati White Bengals, they are the Cincinnati Bengals. Aren’t they two different animals?
Copied and pasted –
Despite what some may say, they are not a separate species or albino, white tigers are simply Bengal tigers. White tigers occur when two Bengal tigers that carry a recessive gene controlling coat color are bred together.
Glad I wasn’t the only one thinking this. Bengals are orange with black stripes, not black with orange stripes. Have them go mono-orange with black socks. And also instantly thought of Baltimore going mono-black too.
As someone who has played sports video games my whole life, I’m shocked to see Nike forcing their branding onto the uniform selector screen in Madden… I’ve never seen anything like that in any other game.
I thought this should be a bigger focus of the article as well. Maybe we’ve given up at this point.
Yeah. I has been years since I played Madden, but I never remember them having something like that in the game. How long has the mark of the beast appeared on the uniforms for in the game? Beyond the makers mark being on uniforms in the game, this is even more over the top, is there an option for none nike uniforms that you can pick from? Is there other product placement in the game? Blah. Next thing you know they’ll you get an ad patch in franchise mode to increase your annual revenue.
I can guarantee that as soon as Nike got the league-wide contract and started putting their logo on the jerseys, it was reflected in the game (in fact, it was earlier – I looked up Madden 11 on Google Images, and sure enough there’s a screenshot of Mark Sanchez with the Reebok logo on his sleeve).
Your comment about uni ads is funny. I definitely remember being able to choose sponsors in various FIFA and MLB games (plus MyPlayer in NBA 2K). Thankfully it was in the days before uni ads (at least outside of soccer), so your nightmare scenario wasn’t possible.
It has probably been back to Madden 2006 or 2007 since I played (whatever year had Shaun Alexander on the cover) but I am pretty sure franchise mode at that point already had selling stadium naming rights (though to fake companies) as an option to boost revenue. And that was in franchise mode for a few years at that point. So, it is probably a given this will happen in the game, I think the real question is going to be whether Madden will have you selling uni ads to fake companies or if real companies will pay to be in Madden.
Madden has had maker’s mark on jerseys since the 2001 game when Puma was on jerseys
link
If they’re going to have ads I hope they’re for fake companies.
Reminds me of Triple Play 98, when the announcer would say something like, “This inning is brought to you by the Nebraska Ski Council, reminding you to ski Nebraska!”
Would have no problem with the Bengals going all orange, unlike the Browns… them wearing all orange when their name is literally the Browns would be weird. Bengals, as in the tigers, actually are mostly orange. Makes more sense to me.
I’d like it better if they rocked some black or even white socks and cleats with the mono orange combo. But I’d be okay with it even if they went 100% head to toe full Orangina.
The Bengals should take it a step further and make the orange jerseys primary.
I generally frown upon mono-unis in football (mono whites aside), but I kinda dig the all orange look. Go full tiger!
Either way, the orange pants are 100% the way to go for this team, for home and away. They could ditch the white pants entirely unless they’re doing the white-out unis.
I’m in favor of any pants on any team other than white pants because I’d prefer not to see the sewn-in diaper.
Funny, I’ve thought for years that the white pants make it look like from behind like the player has a diaper or loincloth on. Don’t believe I’ve ever heard anyone else say the same. Whenever that pant style was introduced, I remember remarking how surprised I was. Like, I can’t be the only one that sees this.
Orange pants helps make the Browns look different than the Bengals. That being said. Orange/Orange/Orange is full on Tiger mode. Love it.
Orange/black/orange and orange/white/orange, yes. Mono orange: F no.
They are definitely going to only wear these color rush unfortunately. I guess we should be thankful that they at least have something on the sides since Nike is pushing everyone away from that.
People have weird tastes. Took me a minute to realize I wasn’t looking at The Browns w that white over orange mockup. Bengals are the NFL’s black w orange trim team. I see no reason to subvert that with a hideous orange unitard. They looked so bad for so long. Finally improved their look and now this. Barf.
Orange Black Orange or Orange White Orange would be fine. Mono orange not so much and if so: black socks. please
So the Bengals go “full Cleveland Browns” mode for the second time in their history. Whatever. Why not go full-orange, tigers do.
The thing I notice is that the orange pants really demonstrate how messed up the pants stripes are. The helmet stripes are thin and come to a natural point. Like a tiger. That’s even the way the stripes go on a real tiger’s head. But the pants have fat, truncated stripes that split like a zebra. Worse, it just doesn’t match, and takes away from the beauty of the helmet.
I agree with you 100 percent. The pants need better stripes. They are to wide and looks half ass
Add my crazy vote for all Orange
White over orange – yes! Black over orange – meh. Orange over orange – definitely not!
I’m going to the Bengals-Eagles game at the end of October, the prospect of an orange-black-orange-black getup so close to Haloween *almost* makes me wish they weren’t wearing the all-white alts
All orange would not be bad at all. I would actually prefer it to all white. IMO all orange would look better than black jersey-orange pants or orange jersey-black pants.
The Bengals just posted on their social media that they’re going Black over Orange on 12/19 vs. the Browns. My guess is that’s the only time we’ll see those pants this season.
The orange pants look great. I actually think they pair well with the black, white, and orange tops. Hopefully these become a part of the regular rotation, and not just saved for Color Rush or something.
Just really hope they pair them with black socks. Oddly, I think Color Rush is the only set in which pairing with orange socks is forgivable. I figure if you’re gonna go big and obnoxious… go as big as you can.
Bengals mono orange (looking like a tiger) vs SeaHawks mono neon green (not looking like a SeaHawk) should happen!
Game sponsored by one of the highlighter manufacturers!
Fact: All orange is absolutely terrible. Fact: Orange/black/orange/black is certainly the best of the bunch. Never understood why they didn’t have orange pants. And they do look “browns-ish” for sure.
Orange/black/orange/black looks decent but the pants need a little white highlights or something. The white on the jersey makes the whole thing look unbalanced otherwise.
I actually wouldn’t mind an all orange but it would have to be black socks. But that’s not a bad combination. They have a all white, now they need the all black and the all orange
Love the orange pants. I would not want to see them wear all orange, but with the white jersey or the black jersey, that would be a great look.
Normally do not like the mono look, but I’ll make an exception with the Bengals. Cincinnati can complete the Bengal Tiger look with orange striped socks and arm sleeves.
The orange pants will go well with the white and black jerseys to create a balanced look. Were it not for the lack of TV numbers and a proper number font, they could be the best Bengal uniforms ever. But sadly, the temptation to wear them with orange jerseys will be too great.
Amazing how much pants can improve an entire look. Bringing back orange pants was great for the Browns, and I think the new orange britches matched with the black jersey really makes the Bengals pop.
I know I’m on an island here, but I loved the Ravens’ short-lived mustard pants. They went from having one of my least favorite uniforms to one of my top five.
I have never once seen an entirely orange tiger. They are pretty evenly split between orange, black and white. I’ve also never seen a Bear with a C on his head, or a Dolphin with a picture of a dolphin on his head. Radicalizing a football uniform for sake of looking like the animal is funny at best.
The orange pants are long overdue for Cincy. They would look best with the white jersey. The black jersey with orange pants would look good as well. Hope they don’t do the mono orange. The Bengals need to change their number font back to block like they had in the 80’s and 90’s for a more traditional look.
Paired with the black or white jerseys, the orange pants look pretty great. I’m a Bengals fan and will always love the classic Orange/Black/White. Mono-orange is a bit weird. Leave that for Oregon State.
LOVE THIS. Been hoping to see the Bengals wear orange pants since their new set came out a few years ago. Definitely prefer the visual of the Black Jersey (AWESOME) and the white jersey (solid) over the orange, but of all the mono uniforms out there, might as well look like the actual animal. Can’t wait to see these in action!
Better than the Zebra look, in my opinion.
Bravo Bengals! This is a great look with the black and white jerseys. More teams should take their cue.
Ugh – couldn’t just fix the darn striping on the white pants?!
Actually, I’m warming up to these – so long as they are only worn with the black tops …I’m down with OBOB, YMMV!
The Bengals now have 4 pants white w/orange stripes, white w/black stripes, black and now orange. They need a new alternate white jersey with orange stripes that can be worn with the white/orange stripes pants, That would also look good with the orange pants.
I for one welcome our new mono-orange overlords. If they do go all-orange at least the pants have stripes. That might be the saving grace. I really do like the orange/black/orange/black look for them too. That’s definitely a Halloween game!
I’m not excited about the orange pants for the Bengals. Just overkill for me. I don’t even like the orange jerseys.
At least with a orange jersey and orange pants they look like an actual Bengal tiger.
I think that’s actually pretty cool.
I think the stripes on the orange pants should have white opposite the black stripes instead of orange as part of the striping pattern for a more contrast.
I believe in 1991 both the Giants and Brewers had the MLB logo on the back of their hats. I sorta remember because I started collecting hats around that time. Here is a link to a picture of Rick Dempsey with the batterman logo on his hat in 1991 (his only season with Milwaukee): link
I’m not a fan of the Bears orange helmets paired with their orange alternate jerseys. But, let’s give them a set of orange pants. An orange/navy/orange uniform might make that helmet for for them.
To anyone who says all-orange is good because tigers are orange –
We’re talking Football uniforms, not Halloween costumes.
These guys are playing football, not playing dress-up.
This is an NFL football game, not a Broadway version of Cats.
Is that how you hang pants?!?
Nice orange pants option that will look good with white or black jerseys. It makes you wonder why the Bengals didn’t do this years ago?