Good morning, Uni Watchers. It’s Friday: we made it!
I want to talk about something today I’d been thinking of for some time — with the news that the Detroit Lions will debut their blue helmet/black jersey alternate uni on Monday Night Football (so of course their opponents, the Seahawks, will counter with mono-white), and then last night with the Cowboys wearing their Good Humor outfits for Thursday Night Football — I am wondering if NFL teams should wear alternates for “Big” or Prime Time games.
I’m a Giants fan, so I see them play every week, and that always includes two regular season games against the Cowboys. And that means I almost always get this matchup.
But last night the Cowboys went with their all-white alternate, and while I obviously knew it was Giants/Cowboys, it didn’t quite feel like Giants/Cowboys.
Now, I don’t hate the Cowboys Color Rush — but I don’t love it either. I spent a good chunk of last night preparing this and other articles with the game on TV on the other side of the room, so I’d glance up quickly to see a royal blue team playing an all-white team. Again, I knew it was the Cowboys, but those quick glances gave me pause. Wait…who are they playing again? Oh yeah, Cowboys. If I were just flipping channels and I stumbled on this, I definitely would need a scorebug to tell me who the Giants’ opponents were.
So, I’m wondering if NFL teams should wear alternates for nationally broadcast games. In one way, it was kinda nice to have a little variety, uni-wise, from a normal Giants/Cowboys tilt. But in another way, if I didn’t get to watch the Giants or Cowboys that much, or were just a casual fan, if I were to watch an “out of market/division” game, would I want to see each team in their Sunday best (aka, their primary home or road uniform) or … something else?
While it had certainly been done previously, I want to “blame” the Color Rush introduction (remember for like a year and a half, every TNF game was a “CR” game?) for the idea that teams should wear alternates on national TV. It seems that since 2015 or so, more and more teams will wear alternates (either third jerseys, throwbacks or CR) for Prime Time games.
Since those are games available to the entire country, and the only game at the time, do folks tuning in want to see teams in their regular unis (assuming they may only see them a couple times a season)? Or do you think they’d prefer “new” looks? Or do most non-UWers not really care all that much?
I’m $ure there i$ a rea$on why team$ will wear alternate$ in Prime Time. But should those games be reserved for regular uniforms?
As a Uni Watcher, of course I’m intrigued with every new uniform and combination. I’m excited to see the Lions blue helmets/mono-black everything else this Monday. But is that the best place to debut a new uniform? Would it be better for the Lions to debut that on a normal Sunday afternoon? Let’s be honest…if someone who doesn’t watch much football, or follow uniform news, turns on MNF, they’re gonna have no clue who is playing. Would the larger audience be better served if the Lions wore these beauties instead?
Of course, not all alternates are created equal. Some third jerseys are excellent, and the few remaining Color Rush uniforms for the most part aren’t terrible. But there are some horrible alternate jerseys as well. Most folks agree throwbacks are great to have as alternates, and many of the older viewers love them because those are the uniforms with which they grew up. So, would we want to keep alternates for nationally broadcast games, especially if teams wear throwbacks?
There are no right or wrong answers here. And I think how you might answer them also depends upon your age as well as just how into uniforms you are. If you watch a lot of games, you’re probably excited to see a new (or different) look every now and then. But if you don’t watch much, maybe you prefer to see teams you don’t normally watch wearing their Sunday best.
I know I’m not the first one to suggest this, but maybe the NFL could encourage teams to wear throwbacks against one another on TNF. Call it “Throwback Thursday.” Just try to schedule teams that can either wear white jersey throwbacks or allow color vs. color throwbacks (obviously presuming there is sufficient contrast between the two). If the NFL could force us to watch color vs. color Color Rush games for a year and a half, certainly they’d get behind the idea of Throwback Thursday, no?
Alternates — whether they be third jerseys, Color Rush or throwbacks — aren’t going away. But should they be restricted to Sunday afternoons? Or does it really not matter? When you sit down for a night time NFL game, do you want the teams to “look like” they’re supposed to, or are you so used to their regular uniforms that you want to see something different?
Alternatively…what about restricting alternates to nationally televised games? If you play in Prime Time, you’re encouraged (but not required) to wear an alternate. But on Sunday, you have to wear your primary uniforms with no exceptions.
I’d love to have your thoughts on this. At first I thought I’d be opposed to alternates for night games, but now I’m not so sure.
Fire away!
Throwback Thursday seems like a better gimmick than Color Rush, especially if it can be used to educate younger viewers on the history of a team. Bring in legends of the past for each team on the pregame show, show some notable team highlights coming in or out of commercial breaks, etc. Really celebrate the history when the entire football world is watching.
I love this idea! You want to see the creamsicles on the field? Well, it’s on national tv! And they’re up against some other throwback so it looks like 1984? Now you got me tuning in for a half of football!
Otherwise, I’d rather see primaries in primetime.
Thursday still seems like a silly day for football (Thanksgiving aside), so I wouldn’t give it the honour of a “Primetime” tag. If anything, it feels below the normal Sunday exposure.
So the silly colour rush was perfectly suited to it.
But I think the NFL uni-landscape is getting silly as it is – someone posted yesterday that 4 unis over a 17 game season is silly – then throwing in different pants & looks. As most teams have throwbacks in their lockers, I think doing them on Thursday is a great suggestion. Would also mean teams would have to have home and road jersey throwbacks, so we can see e.g. the white version of the creamsicles. We’d have more normal matchups on a Sunday and some good visual treats on a Thursday.
Only thing I thought of was that Dallas should have saved with for a team with some colored pants with their home jersey (Packers/Bucs/Chargers/Steelers). Would have made for a much better looking game IMO.
On that note (and unrelated to the alternate uniform discussion), am I the only one who prefers the Giants in gray pants? I always liked the Falcons gray pants look too, even though in both cases there isn’t much gray anywhere else on the uniform.
Your not! Gray looks better than white for Giants, Cowboys, Falcons, and Panthers!
As for the original question, the uniform worn depends on the team. Example, imo Vikings and Dolphins throwback would be something I would prefer to watch compared to current uniform. The 49ers and Cowboys normal uniform is better than the hideous block shadow and white pants of the 49ers or the unattractive Cowboys uniform with the colored shoulder panels!
don’t forget the Patriots
I’m all for going back to the gray pants for both home and away. Still have yet to understand why they went to white pants. But, left the gray in the stripes??????
“Still have yet to understand why they went to white pants. But, left the gray in the stripes”
I dunno why they did that … I do prefer the white pants…, but I do like that they left the gray in the stripe pattern since it ties in the facemask color, making the uniform more cohesive.
I also prefer the giants in grey pants at home. It just looks better for them
Giants fan for about 65 years. Bring back the gray pants!
I like the greys, especially on the road, and especially outdoors.
I prefer the grey pants as well
I like the all white Dallas (color rush/ throwback – what ever you want to call it) uni except for one detail –
the silver on the pants. Either have silver in the middle stripe with the blue stripe combo on helmet to match pants, or just have same stripe pattern on pants as current helmet – blue -white -blue. It looks awkward.
GTGFTU: Patriots @ Lions in Detroit on Thanksgiving, November 25, 2010. Pats won 45-24.
GTGFTS: Marlins @ Yankees in New York, April 8, 2024. Yankees won 7-0. Scoreboard looks like it’s showing the eclipse after the game the day and the game was moved up cuz of the eclipse.
SFL is so far gone at this stage I don’t care what they do anymore. They’ve made a mockery of football so they might as well do whatever they want IMO
I said something similar to this the other day when the Lions announced that they were going with their black alternates for MNF. You want to be recognized when you’re on national TV, especially when you aren’t on national TV often. This is your chance to gain new fans and showcase who you are. It SHOULD be your primary uniforms, not a costume.
What stinks for uniform traditionalists like some of us, is that teams now view national TV games as their chance to show off their all-black, or whatever alternate they have. Big game=alternate uniforms.
Same goes for home openers. As a Delaware fan, it bothered me that they wore all-black for their season and home opening game. This is the first game that new students and new fans are going to see the team and a welcome back to all the alumni and lifelong fans. IMO, you should be wearing your traditional uniforms, in UD’s case, blue and gold (it’s even in the fight song). But not in 2024. Wearing your normal uniform is almost frowned upon. 3 game in, UD has yet to wear yellow pants (their primary home and away pants their entire existence).
I think it’s all about marketing to sell different jerseys.
I think teams reserving an alternate for a rival. I remember back when the Giants had a red alternate, they’d wear it in Dallas against the Cowboys. Kinda like they only wore their blues at home and red in the road.
I’m still shocked at how many people seem to indicate that they watch broadcasts with no scorebug, commentary or program info from their cable/streaming provider.
I was thinking the same thing. There’s certainly something to be said about the proliferation of alternate uniforms, but it seems like overstating the case to act like you can’t tell who’s playing.
I’ve come to a realization about nine uniforms and it’s pretty simple. Nike could care less about the demographic that reads this website. They are not considered the history or trying to create something iconic. They only consider is this something that will sell and is appealing to a teenage boy. That is the core group that purchases these uniforms and will be. If you look at any decision they make and think is this appealing to a kid there you go. Saves alot of energy wondering why it’s so bad.
GTGFU is the 2010 Thanksgiving Day game between the Pats and the Lions (one of the best-looking matchups in NFL history).
I don’t think prime time matters as much anymore. Sunday, Monday, Thursday evening games on different streaming services, makes notion of the prime time game as not something special.
The idea of throwback Thursday has charm, I frankly don’t care when wear their alts, throwbacks, or color rush. Actually, I wish they would never wear color rush.
Casual NFL fans will not care about who is wearing what as they will mostly not watch an entire game but only highlights. More involved fans will not care what their favorite team wears as long as they win in it. UW readers care about every detail of every uniform and every combination worn at any time. I am not a fan of mono uniforms in NFL football, I strongly dislike them except for some mono whites with a contrast helmet (like the Chiefs or the Giants). But I am an UW reader, the average fan will shrug and cheer.
I don’t think that genie is going back into the bottle. Teams and players are all on board with the new look swag.
I’ve always been of the opinion that in the NFL all teams should reserve alternates for Thanksgiving weekend. Use that to showcase throwbacks (or fauxbacks).
Otherwise keep it to standard home and away the rest of the season. One exception might be if a team is celebrating a particular anniversary, and wanted to wear a throwback on an additional date, especially if their Thanksgiving weekend game was an away game.
I think if a team is wearing an alt for a primetime game, it should be a “recognizable alternate”. This week, I recognize the all white Cowboys as the Cowboys, with the giant stars on the shoulders and helmet, and I recognize the all black Ravens as the Ravens, but the all black Lions? not so much
I don’t think with the NFL it’s as big an issue as the NBA, or even MLB with some of the city connects. Due to NFL rules on alternates where it is a throwback or a color swap of one of their primaries, generally you can still know what teams are playing from the uniforms. If I turn on a game and the Texans are in red, I still know it’s the Texans. Same with the Seahawks in green. Even the black uniforms that teams roll out have some variation, like the eagles don’t have any sorta striping on the sleeves, the jets have the green stripes, panthers have the UCLA stripes (and panthers are black). It’s not like my Alma matter, Iowa State, whose alternates literally have no color to them. They look like the blank create-a-team templates. And the nfl isn’t like the NBA, where a team with blue and silver as their colors would get a BFBS uniform with green accents
I don’t mind this as much for NFL games because each team is covered so much and the fan base is so gigantic, but I hate it when this happens with college teams. Especially if its a smaller school or less successful school where the prime time game is a lot of new exposure and they choose to wear a chrome helmet, make their jersey some funky pattern and emphasize a non-primary uniform color, etc. I wish on those games the schools would go very traditional to show off their real look and not look so desperate.
I watch more college football than NFL. That may be why I do not care what teams wear. Additionally, I like to see the different alternates in action as opposed to only seeing pictures or clips to allow me to properly judge a uniform on it’s merits: as uniform in action.
As someone born in 1990, I came of age as a sports fan during arguably the most outrageous, sometimes deranged period of uni-history. I’m not sure exactly how that informed my uni-tastes, but I think it helped me appreciate more traditional uniforms, as well as appreciate when “modern” uniforms are done well. For example, I like the Seahawks current set. It’s unique without being ugly IMO, but my leanings are generally toward more “classic/traditional” looks. Part of that could be being from New England, the Red Sox, Celtics, and Bruins are all very sartorially traditional teams.
Anyway, when it comes to the NFL and primetime/national tv games specifically, I think teams should wear their “best” combo. Unfortunately, there’s no accounting for taste, and “best” is highly subjective. That said, I think they should generally stick with their primary uniforms. The exception, in my mind, is Thanksgiving. I think every team should wear throwbacks on Thanksgiving. Especially with the one shell rule going away, there’s no reason they couldn’t do that.
If you’re talking deranged, I’d argue the 70’s is the most deranged decade especially MLB. It went from flannel and pinstripes and quickly pivoted to the likes of the White Sox in shorts, full red in Cleveland, full maroon in Philadelphia, full mustard in SD, bumblebees in Pittsburgh with bonus pillbox hats, the classic tequila sunrise jerseys in Houston, plus the abandonment of road grays by so many teams. By the early/ mid 80’s most of the derangement was gone, back to button up jerseys, with white at home and mostly grey on the road. This era seemed more organic driven by cultural trends and not by the retail market. Most of this time, jerseys weren’t readily available to the public, you really had to want one to find one.
I wasn’t old enough to understand how anything happened in the 70’s it was a very weird time, (cocaine). However, I was young and dumb, a teen and early 20’s in the 90’s and watched the uniform scene explode. This time around it wasn’t driven by bonkers back room coke fueled sartorial choices by teams alone but by big business, hip-hop and the internet, capitalism running amok.
But by god, the 90’s were glorious and we were given the best jersey ever (a hill I will gladly die upon) the 1995-96, New York Islanders Gordons Fisherman jersey!
I’d rather see an alternate or throwback in a prime-time game, just because I’m more likely to see it than a regionally televised game on a Sunday.
What they should do is take a page from the NHL and go reverse retro. Remix the throwbacks into something a bit different.
I’m fine with the alternates being worn whenever. My whole thing is, and this was articulated here recently by either Phil or Paul, is that the team needs to be recognizable. I’d be fine with more teams going the Oregon route and having a ton of uni sets to mix and match, *so long as they look like themselves.* This would eliminate BFBS and many white-out sets, which is fine. The only exception to my rule is for historically accurate throwbacks. GB doesn’t look like GB in those navy throwbacks, but they look good and they’re (reasonably) accurate, so that’s ok. This is also my beef with most of the CC MLB unis. The teams just don’t look like themselves most of the time.
In a perfect world, my ideal choice for uniform standards in the NFL would be the following:
Throwback Thursday- teams with throwback uniforms would play one another. Give fans a view of their team’s history. Examples- Bucs Creamsicle, Seahawks,Falcons red helmets, Broncos Orange Crush, Miami Dolphins,etc.
Sunday- primary uniforms
Monday-alternate uniforms
This is an extremely hot take for this website, but the Cowboy’s primary whites bother me so much that I much prefer this look.
I see where you’re coming from, but in the case of the Cowboys specifically, I don’t mind it, since those alternates are honestly a far better uniform than their classic silver-white-mint unis. If the Cowboys would just Get It™ already: fixing the pants colors and picking whether their blue is navy or royal, I’d feel differently. But as of right now, I’m not filled with an overwhelming desire to see a uniform that time has disagreed with so strongly
I am with you 100%, The crazy silver-white-mint getup is my least favorite in all of sports because of the different blues and greys
Heck no. I love the alternates. I’m a Cowboys fan and playing the Giants in the traditional uniforms for both teams results in entirely too much royal blue on the field. I appreciate the Cowboys going navy when they can, I’ve noticed they’ve been able to wear alternates against NY quite a bit lately, and their color rush unis are great (though, like most they need navy socks).
I do agree with others that Thursdays should be throwback Thursday games.
“When you sit down for a night time NFL game, do you want the teams to “look like” they’re supposed to?”
YES! Please.
I agree with the sentiment, but I wouldn’t want it as a restriction.
In general, I’d prefer that the leagues had fewer mandates on uniform sets, even if it goes against my own tastes in some cases. If a team wants to have three different versions of an all-white alternate, let them. If a team wants to opt out of City Connect or Reverse-Retro, let them.
Teams (ideally coaches and players, influenced by fans) should be able to make a statement with their uniforms for big games if they want. I’m not wild about the Lions’ new blacks, but if Campbell and his team want to do that on the MNF stage to represent their bite-your-kneecaps, motor-city-muscle persona, I think the game is better for it. Personally, I’d always rather see them in their silver/lulu/silvers, but they should get to decide.
Am I the only one whose OCD can’t handle the silver stripe on the Cowboys’ all whites? There is no silver anywhere else on the uniform! Not too different than the lack of yellow on the Packers’ white helmet- not as egregious – but close.
No, it bothers me so much because they have a pair of white pants they wear with the navy throwback that goes perfectly with the helmet of the “color rush” white! Save the white pants with the grey stripes for their standard navy jersey cuz it goes perfect with that set.
Clown suits like the Lions’ Blacks and the Seahawks’ Neons [which they had the good sense to leave at home] should be prohibited as much as possible, and definitely during prime time. The exception to an alternates ban? Classic throwbacks. Patriot Pat and Bucco Bruce should always be shown to a captive audience.
I’d prefer to see as much Sunday best and color variety as possible, but allow me to simplify it with alliteration:
Sunday Standard (1/4 pm games)
Sunday BEST (SNF Game)
Monday Night Mono
Throwback Thursday (BOTH teams)
Others: Silly Saturday (mix and match at team’s discretion, provided there is contrast)
International Games: Color vs Color if sensible, otherwise “Sunday Best”
Not sure if you remember but the Color Rush uniforms when first introduced were exclusively to be worn on Thursday Night games
Don’t forget that the Color Rush program came to the NFL on the backs of college games finally going back to color vs color (notably USC-UCLA), and the NFL predictably screwed it up. Instead of seeing matchups that fans were getting excited about, like the red Chiefs jerseys against the black Raiders jerseys, or green Eagles against burgundy Washington, we got those stupid pajama uniforms in Baby-Puke Yellow and Crest Tartar Control Blue.
Yes, on SNF or MNF I want to see each team wear its regular uni. Save the alts for the fans who see the regular unis all season, i.e. the regular Sunday afternoon fans. If I only see, say, the Giants once or twice a season, I want them to look like the Giants. Throwbacks are okay but not weird alts, e.g. I don’t want to see the Bears decked out in orange everything.
Nah, some alternate jerseys are truly very great. Requiring teams to wear the same jerseys they almost always wear seems like a backwards and quite frankly no-fun-league move. I prefer variety and frankly don’t have a problem with how the game “feels” to me. I know who is playing because I’m paying attention.
If the NFL and Nike had their way, every game would be a ‘special’ game, complete with ‘special’ gear to be found for sale at your local sporting goods store, at less-than-fair prices.
I’m honestly surprised they haven’t started using one-off jerseys for the international games. Something identifiable by the casual foreign fan, maybe 90% like their normal uniform, with some highlights or striping unique to the host country, like what the NBA has done before.
This is a lot of ink spilled over nothing. The matchup is prominently displayed on the screen when you flip to the channel. The broadcast team mentions the teams multiple times in the first minute of viewing. Let them wear what they want.
You may not hate the Cowboys color rush uniforms, but I sure do. I also hate the Giants wearing white pants. Barf alert.
The white costumes the Cowboys wore are truly awful. Why you would ever wear those when you have the “metallic blue” to wear is truly mystifying. The Cowboys have nice colors but their uniforms are so screwed up since they don’t understand how the match the “metallic blue” and wear a consistent shade of royal or navy blue.
Sept 30, watching Titans vs Dolphins. The blue vs the teal. It is not different enough. Shades are wayyy too similar and since I am not a fan of either, I am forever not sure who is doing what. Husband says they’re different, says the guy who wears orange with red and other atrocities. They should be significantly different.