Good Monday morning, Uni Watchers. I hope everyone had a safe and pleasant weekend.
Last evening, the Denver Broncos debuted their new blue/white/orange uniforms for the home crowd in Denver. The last time the Broncos wore blue/white/orange was 1979. So this was a combo I’ve been waiting forty-five years to see. And it was tremendous.
As you may recall, about a week and a half ago, the Broncos debuted their “snow white” uniforms, and I basically had my say about all the new uniform elements. Last night’s game featured only one change from week one — the big one — the switch to orange pants. Everything I mentioned about the details of the unis applies here, so I won’t go over those again. But I do want to discuss how incredible the orange pants make an otherwise ho-hum uniform. A bit further below, I’ll be joined by Weekend Editor Jimmer Vilk, who may be the only person as excited as I am to see the return of the orange pants — and I’ve asked him to give you a bit of history of the previous times (there were two periods) when the Broncos took to the gridiron in blue/white/orange.
But lets look at some shots of the team from last night, who incidentally played the Packers in the best home uniform (even though they were on the road) in the NFL. If there were a 5 & 1 for preseason, this would easily be the Top #1 matchup this year. It may be better than anything we see in the regular season!
My biggest complaint about the Broncos new uniforms was the asymmetrical pants striping, and while I don’t like it on the orange pants any more than on the white, the best thing is it’s not really noticeable in the long shots (which is most TV angles); But I’m more focused on the color combo — the navy hats, white shirts and orange britches (which thankfully are worn with contrasting white socks/spandex/compression gear). And while I love royal and orange as a combo (and not just because of the Mets), I really like the way the navy helmet plays off the navy numbers on the jersey, with just enough orange elements up top to balance off the pants. Chef’s kiss!
My only other complaint is not about the uniform, but the style which is popular these days: biker shorts and untucked undershirts.
At least the linemen still cover their knees (and kept their shirts tucked in until the game had started).
There were a couple photos I saw which also show really good closeups of the Broncos jerseys. There is an interesting perforation pattern in the numbers: spaced wide at the top, and increasingly getting closer together towards the base of the numbers:
Here’s a closer look at that jersey.
And here’s a look at the best uni matchup of the preseason (and maybe all season!):
And here’s some video of how beautiful this game looked in action:
Bo Nix could not have looked more comfortable on this drive for the Broncos. We’re seeing it all from him out there pic.twitter.com/f8KgIWNSVx
— Football Digest (@FoootballDigest) August 19, 2024
Another week, another INT for @KeidronS 😤
📺: 9NEWS or NFLN pic.twitter.com/lHX9k2HLxb
— Denver Broncos (@Broncos) August 19, 2024
OK. At this point I’ll turn it over to Jimmer, and be back with a couple last words when he’s done. Here’s Jimmer…
…..
“…who may be the only person as excited as I to see the return of the orange pants”
Please. I’m even MORE excited! Yes, I’ve been waiting 45 years for this combo, last seen in the 1979 Wild Card Playoff against the Houston Oilers.
Even with Houston’s inferior white helmets, that is one fantastic matchup! The only thing smoother than that is the sounds of Charlie Jones and Len Dawson calling the game.
Anyway, I’ve been waiting 53 years for a Color Palette Special that resembled last night’s contest.
The September 26th, 1971 game was the only other time the Broncos and Packers went with a similar combo. I wish I had more room on my Wall of Kickers, but I had to crop out the Packer on my Jim Turner/Mike Clark section.
As you can see in the above photos, the two previous eras of blue/white/orange unis featured more of a blood orange than the current shade. Either orange looks great to me, so no complaints here.
The Broncos must have liked that combo as well, because in 1971 they wore white jerseys at home all season long. The only three times they went blue/orange/white that year were in road games.
It’s hard to believe, but in 65 seasons, Denver has used this look for only six of them. And the only time I thought they looked good in white road pants was during the five seasons when they had the orange helmets with the bucking bronco logo. You may agree or disagree. Hopefully we all can agree that last night’s game looked good…at least from a distance. I know some of the new details are deal breakers for a lot of you. I’m a fan of the mountain peaks on the sleeves, but the other stuff is like background noise that I easily can tune out. On the whole, I like Denver’s new look, which is something I haven’t said in three decades.
…..
OK readers. Am I crazy or is this not one of the top five best looking unis in the game? And how great did that pair up against the classic Packers green and gold!
The floor is yours.
I’m not crazy about the Broncos new look, but this is undoubtedly going to be the best uni-combo they can create. Sure, some stripes on the white socks would be nice (or even Navy socks would be good) but I’m just as they’re not orange. And matched up with the Packers? Fantastic! Possibly the best matchup of the year. Too bad it’s in the preseason, but I’m glad we still got to see it.
Just glad*
Agree with this totally. It will not look any better in Bronco Country than this.
GTGFTU is November 2, 1980 at Riverfront. Charles Alexander carrying the ball. Bengals only won 6 games that year and this wasn’t one of them.
The jerseys the Bengals wore in 1980 were a one year style. They were Sand Knit jerseys with screened on numbrers, but the side numbers were sewn on and with a different font.
The Broncos redesign took their home uniforms for low in my personal rankings to next to last, but if this were the dominant road look for them, it might be worth it.
I will be the first to admit. I thought these were the most gimmicky/ungly uniforms ever when they revealed them. I was bad wrong. On the field I think they are amazing. When the Broncos took the field last night my jaw dropped. The “peaks” are not as pronounced as I thought and pretty much look like stripes. Can’t wait to see the orange jerseys on the field.
I just don’t dig the Broncos’ new uniforms. I can’t pinpoint it, but they look very NCAA to me. Also, another case where TV numbers to add so much.
EP I agree, these uniforms scream Boise State all the way. To gimmicky as someone else put it.
Same. They don’t scream Denver Broncos to me. Maybe because my whole life they’ve been blue/white/white on the road. Boise is where my head goes.
I was thinking the same thing. We’ll get used to them. But yeah, giving off strong Illinois Fighting Illini uniform energy to me.
The shade of orange is throwing me. It seems a little pasty or washed out. It must just be the fabric or the photography, as I don’t have that issue with the sleeve orange or the helmet graphics. I love a good orange and blue combo (they were my wedding colors) but the broncos have never really got it right, to me. Somehow the Mets look great in royal and primary orange (theirs has a slight lean toward the red end of the spectrum), and the Durham Bulls have looked good in multiple shades (they’ve used a cornflower blue, royal, and something I thing they called “Durham nights”, as well as a primary orange a little farther toward the red end than the Mets, and a more yellow burnt orange). Lately I lean more towards the use of a “not quite navy”. Good examples are the new directv-er dodgers-city connect hats, the Durham nights hats (this is the best of the examples as it is the most saturated and really has a “feel” to it), the cubs CC unis/crowns, and the blue jays alternate dark hats. I think the Bronc’s would have done well to go in that direction, and switch the orange for something either more burnt, or more obnoxiously bright. This sort of ripe persimmon shade they are using with the standard dark navy doesn’t pop for me as much as they probably want (and I’m sure my good favor is exactly what they want!)
How are the Jays’ alternate hats (and other examples listed) “not quite navy” ?
To me, there are fine tonal variations as blue turns to black: I can see medium blue, royal blue, dark blue, navy blue, a ultimately midnight blue. As blue darkens, it becomes more neutral until you have a New York Yankees color. Blue Jays’ colors are dark blue, navy blue and red. Their pastel blue uniforms are “outside the box”.
They are distinctly darker than royal blue but noticeably lighter than the blue used by the Yankees, Braves, Guardians, Cardinals, Astros, Mariners and all the other teams that use what I consider the standard navy blue.
Does that make it clearer?
Yep! For me, the examples provided in your original comment are what I believe most people think of as navy blue. The ones you just listed are darker – the going term right now seems to be “midnight blue”.
Honestly, it aeems
I fully support the idea that these Bronco uniforms are much better with the orange pants. Way better overall feel.
I will admit though that I am strongly against pants and jersey’s matching in general, so the white-over-white look was never going to be a favorite.
Honestly, my immediate thought was that navy helmets seem way out of place for the Cleveland Browns.
As much as I DESPISE the Broncos, it’s good to see them in something at least close to how they looked before the 97 redesign. Instill need to see the Blue/Orange/Blue to be certain if I like this set.
“My biggest complaint about the Broncos new uniforms was the asymmetrical pants striping”
Same. It’s not a dealbreaker, but at some angles/distances the white stripe was a little distracting.
Overall though, loved these (even if I do prefer their old lighter blue over the navy).
Is the perforation pattern on the numbers supposed to be snow falling? I am sure it serves some story telling purpose that I missed when they announced these – but to me the seem like snow falling-ish.
It’s meant to signify the thinning atmosphere as you gain elevation (this is the actual storytelling from the team).
As always, NVD (no visible diaper) beats VD so this set is, on balance, a win.
The Broncos are an Orange team. I have never been a fan of their road uniforms unless they had orange pants. I approve this uniform!
Top five? Not even close… Still looks like the University of Denver Cavaliers to me.
I normally don’t care two figs about preseason football, but I flipped this on for a second and could not look away. Gorgeous color combo.
As for the ticky-tack uni elements, what bugs me is that none of them follow a single unifying design theme. The truncated pants stripes, the differently truncated collar stripes, the muted orange triangle mohawk on the helmet, the Dorito crumbs under the armpits, the odd perforations on the numbers (supposed to look like snowfall, maybe) the lightning bolts on the shoulders… it’s like different teams handled each element and never checked in with each other.
But wow, it would be wonderful to see this combo as their primary look this year.
The truncated stripes on the back of the helmet look horrendous. Otherwise, I think the Broncos new uniform set is a nice upgrade over their previous set.
White jerseys and white pants together are snoozeville for football. Loved the Broncos in orange pants as a kid, and they look great in them now. Should be a requirement that all teams wear non-white or non-gray silver pants (because there is not much contrast between white and gray or white and silver) with white jerseys, and no stormtrooper uniforms. This is not baseball, it’s football. Wear some color.
Having just casually tuned in over the past two weeks, it seems like sock consistency for teams has been much better than last year. Anyone else notice?
I don’t understand how anyone thinks these uniforms look good. They look like a college team. I keep thinking it’s the Syracuse football team. The Broncos do not look like the Broncos. It doesn’t look or feel right. The Lions new uniforms “feels” like the Lions. The Broncos new uniforms makes me feel like it’s a completely different franchise.
The uniforms may look good on a college football team, but not the Denver Broncos.
“The Broncos do not look like the Broncos.”
Funny, I thought they looked exactly like the Broncos should.
Just out of curiosity, when you think of the Broncos, what look do you think of? And just out of curiosity, did you ever see the Broncos in either 1968-72 or 1978-79, when they sported the royal/white/orange look?
Because if you only saw the team after the switch to the parentheses uniforms, then any other look would be off to you (which I get). But seeing the Broncos in a similar combo to the one I remember from my youth solidifies in my mind that this is how the Broncos should look.
YMMV of course.
Phil, I wasn’t alive in the 60s and 70s, so no I didn’t see that color combo. It’s not the color combo that’s my issue. It’s the colors don’t look right. I remember the 90s Broncos and then the uniform change at the end of the 90s. The shade of orange and blue doesn’t feel right. The number font doesn’t feel right. Something is off.
I like the navy blue helmet, white jersey, and orange pants (the all white “socks” is awful though). That combination is fine, just the look/shade of color of the uniform feels too college and not the Denver Broncos.
Matchup was so nice looking I actually watched the game for almost a quarter. That’s saying something since I never bother with preseason games for more than a few plays.
Go Boise State!
-C.
Broncos should NEVER EVER wear white pants with their white jerseys . . . orange is the way to go – agree with everyone who sees it too!!!
Am anxious to see what the orange and blue jerseys look like on the field . . .
Disagree … white-over-white is a terrific road look for many a team, including Denver.
The orange pants were as garish then as they are today. Woof.
The colors aren’t the issue. It’s the excessive details that sink the Broncos uniform. The pant striping has already been discussed. But my new (least) favorite detail is the number perforation. They just bedazzled. I can’t unsee it. Brutal.
I’m all in on this set and absolutely in love with the orange pants when they wear the white jerseys (wouldn’t be as much so with an orange over orange combo as I generally dislike the mono look). The little details I keep hearing called “gimmicks” in general I quite like – the number perforations (signifying elevation), the small triangles under the shoulders, the pants stripe AND the truncated helmet and neckline stripes. All of that, to me, adds up to an original and interesting uniform and one that will continue to grow on people just as the ’97 uniforms did when the Broncos won in them (yes, that’s the key element).
Magnificent? It’s more like a slight upgrade. Can’t be magnificent without TV numbers or that insipid number font. Or that dark shade of blue if we’re being honest. But still,better than the garbage they’ve been wearing since 1997.
GUD shows that is the only time all season they’re wearing orange pants. Wow. That sucks. They’re going white over white the rest of the year. So boring.
I wouldn’t count on that. I expect they’ll don both the orange and blue pants with the white shirts at some point during the season.
Yeah, they just have to. They can’t just go white over white the entire year.
given that there’s “TBA” written directly on the uniform image for most of those games, I doubt this statement is true
it’s sad that the Broncos have looked like absolute dogshit for so long that this average-looking uniform is hailed as magnificent.
and I’m being generous by calling it “average-looking”.
The Broncos new uniforms are a big improvement over their previous look, but they still are vastly inferior to the the classic look. I think they should have gone back to the D logo on the helmet instead of keeping the 1997 rebrand helmet look.
I agree that the white socks were better than if they went with orange, but blue would have been even better, like in the past. However, maybe the white is better, since today most teams have a bunch of random combinations of how each player wears their colored socks. At least with white it limits it to everyone being uniform.
I saw a brief highlight package and was stunned by how good the Broncos’ orange pants looked paired with the white jersey.
Great color combo for the Broncos, but I can’t yet get past that Nike-tier stupid pants stripe.
A google image search for “broncos white jersey orange pants” shows they wore blue/white/orange with their last unis, I don’t understand the 45 year notion?
Not sure where you’re getting that. Do you have a link for this image?
The team didn’t have orange pants at all from 1980 through 2015. In 2016 they did introduce the monorange color rush, but those pants were ONLY ever paired with the orange jersey/socks.
link
Perhaps you’re google search is coming up with a concept? But as far as combos go, the last time they were Blue/White/Orange was 1979 before last night.
I think you may be looking at some Photoshop’d images.
Gridiron Uniform Database (link) shows no record of Denver wearing orange pants with a primary uniform since 1979. They did wear orange as part of their alternate/Color Rush uniforms they debuted in 2016 — but, those are an entirely different template, and were only paired with orange jersey.
Those pant stripes just scream UTEP though…. although, UTEP looks really good at the moment with 3 stripe life!
Anyone else think the Packers jerseys look a little different, and in a good way? I feel the shoulder material is less shiny, and the mesh bodies, are less mesh/see through. I have always been wishing that they would upgrade to a more modern template while keeping the same look, but these seem to be a step in the right direction.
The Broncos look like a UFL team now, thanks Nike!
And this game is NOT the best looking all year . That’ll probably be Cowboys vs 49ers on SNF in week 8 (I believe both teams will wear throwbacks to make it look like th 1994 NFCCG).
I scrolled past some photos of highlights from this broncos game and my brain sees orange pants = Cleveland Browns. Going to take a while to shake that off.
Broncos new uniform overall looks fine, but these perforated numerals are distracting and need to go (need to go in all major league sports).
Uni watch tells us Cincinnati, Cleveland and Denver will have orange pants this season. But the Ohio teams don’t have blue so I don’t know how Denver’s combo could look like the Browns or Bengals.
Definitely their best possible combo with the new unis, but gotta say, I REALLY dislike the “5280” on the nose bumper. It’s not a team logo, and is jarring in a way I don’t think I’ve ever felt about nose bumpers logos/wordmarks in the past.
I watched a bit of the game as well and really enjoyed this uni matchup.
The new Broncos uniforms were really good and I agree with both Phil and Jim on how these colors go well together.
The Chargers lightning bolt on the sleeve needs to be adjusted though.
GTGFTS – June 14, 2019. Padres 16, Rockies 12 in 12 innings.
I like these a lot more than I expected. Overall, the set should end up working pretty well.
Are they perfect? Of course not. But, they are an upgrade.
If I could change a single element of the unis, it’d be to change the shade of blue. I think these would do so much better at the midpoint of this and the throwback blue.
Those matte helmets look like SHIT! Oh wait, they’re calling it “metallic satin”? And you can’t even see the center stripe, FFS. And put some stripes on the socks. My god, they look so bush league.
Lifelong Broncos fan here. Busy workday for me, so I haven’t had time to read everyone’s comments as I would like to, but I’ll check in with a couple of quick thoughts. First, I agree with Phil that it’s amazing what a difference the orange pants make on an otherwise lackluster uniform set. I went from not being a fan of the “snow white” (or whatever it was called) uniforms worn last week against the Colts to really enjoying how the uniforms look with the orange pants last night. I’m not saying I think the Broncos should wear white jerseys and orange pants at home on the regular, but I’m not saying the shouldn’t either!
Sunset Orange: link
Summit White: link
Midnight Navy: link
Cringeworthy all. I called the white shirt/britches “snow white” but the team calls it “Summit White”
Wait, you think the Broncos/Packers matchup looked better than the Lions/Chiefs?
link
Much
I get that this game looked good as far as being colorful with great contrast, but if the qualifier for the Broncos unis needs to be something like “looks good from a distance” then it’s not a very good set. And it’s definitely not, even with the orange pants, which look …fine? They still look like they joined the Mountain West, and I’m looking forward to 5 years from now when they dump these stinkers.
It would have been much better, if the Broncos had just went back to the 1979 uniform, instead of… that.
The top two 5&1 every season are the Steelers at Cleveland and the Browns at Pittsburgh.
Longtime reader, first time commenter…
Like someone else who commented above, I am also a lifelong Broncos fan. As a loco designer and lover of colors, I’m really stoked about the possibility of seeing blue-orange-blue, hopefully sometime this season! Do we know if the Broncos have ever done this before? What about anyone else, such as da Bears or an NCAA team? Or in any sport in general? Maybe the Edmonton Oilers or FC Cincinnati? Is there a database that has this information somewhere?
For the scoreboard game, it was 6/14/19. Padres 16-12 Rockies at Coors Field. 5-run twelfth for the Pads. I was not at the game, but I looked it up based on the date and time of Mr. Bowlen’s passing. Fun facts: this was the second year of the irregularly- shaped Coors Field scoreboard and the third year of the Rockies’ standardized purple era… before the Fanatics unis. (And yes, Mr. Lukas, purple does exist in nature… in Colorado: alpine asters, Russian sage [aka tumbleweeds], and when the sunset hits the Front Range just right. )
Welcome aboard!
To answer your question about the blue/white/blue. Yes, sadly. It was done at least twice. Unfortunately the blue parentheses pants have orange stripes whereas the jerseys have blue. So…it didn’t look good: link
Lots of teams (including da Bears who do it all the damn time) do blue/white/blue. As do many college teams.
Thanks! Yes – I remember these. Players’ special. My question was about blue-orange-blue though.
Oh. My bad — thought you were talking about blue pants in general. No, they’ve never worn blue-orange-blue.
If you’re not aware, there is a fantastic site called Gridiron Uniform Database which lists every combo ever worn by every NFL (and other football leagues) team. Here’s their history of the Broncos:
link
UVA football used to wear navy-orange-navy regularly with one of their previous uniform sets. Probably their worst look in my opinion.
Gotcha. Now that you mention it, I think I’ve seen that before. Funny how one person’s favorite can be another person’s least favorite. What’s the saying? One person’s trash is another person’s treasure?
These just feel like there’s something missing, it needs more accent color. Either add TV numbers, make the pants stripes more prominent, beef up the sleeve cap colors, or better yet do all three.
Boise State. All day long.
Yep, that is Boise State’s best looking combo too. Blue/White/Orange.
Just missing tv numbers
I thought the Broncos uni looked much better on the videos posted than in the still images. The orange seems too light in the stills.
Coincidentally, I was at the Oilers vs Broncos playoff game in 1979. Only Oiler game I ever saw as I’m a Cowboys fan. Went with my brother who was an Oilers fan.
Broncos fan since the early 70s and I loved the orange pants in that decade. They were reintroduced in 1978-79 when the “Orange Crush” nickname was given to the Broncos first Super Bowl team. Didn’t make sense to have a road team with hardly any orange.
Yes, this is the best combo when the unis were unveiled last April. Tweaking the stripes would be useful, but the base blue/white/orange is gorgeous. What amazes me is that they never introduced orange pants with the parentheses uniforms. This would have looked equally stunning, probably better because they would have used blue sock tops.
Fan since ’77 when I moved here from the Arctic (yep). I’ve been watching the NFL since the ’60s. Maybe I’m old fashioned but I think white jerseys on the home team is just wrong. (I know, Cowboys. That’s them). I want the orange jerseys at home; if not, I’ll settle for the predominately orange jerseys. And don’t get me started about the white helmets – and please don’t roll out those orange/orange Creamsicle abominations again. The new owners have brought in some good changes, but some of these uniform changes aren’t among them. There are some traditions that we should keep.
I can’t put my finger on it but the colors just seem off. I know some (most?) of it is my own issues with color, but to me the blue is a bit too dark and the orange doesn’t “pop” enough. It seems like a subdued version of what should be a damn good uniform. Still better than the late-90’s redesign, but I feel like that goes without saying.
The more I see the Broncos rebrand, the less I like it. The stripes are a true mess. For all the grief the Rams took over their update, they at least thematically paid homage to the team’s traditional unis in a way that the Broncos barely even attempt here beyond “squint and they kind of look similar to something from 30 years ago.”