Good Thursday morning, Uni Watchers. I hope everyone had a pleasant Wednesday. For reasons not worth getting into, I’ve been having a terrible week, which culminated yesterday afternoon in my living room cable box (yes, I still have cable) giving up the ghost, and after several hours getting a replacement, then dealing with tech support for several more hours, the new box is not working properly. So, I was unable to watch a good chunk of the NLCS while I prepared today’s articles (which was probably for the best). It’s just been one thing after another, unfortunately, but hopefully I can at least get the TV situation resolved at some point today.
Now then. Onto today’s lede.
There is some excellent uniform news this morning. The New Orleans Saints will break out their throwback uniforms when they face the Denver Broncos tonight on Thursday Night Football. Naturally, the announcement was made via video:
Throwback uniforms for Thursday ⚜️#Saints | @Verizon pic.twitter.com/ygI1FbrwCP
— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) October 16, 2024
So, it’s another “Throwback Thursday” game, except, unfortunately, the Broncos will be in their new blue helmets and white jerseys (as of late last evening, they hadn’t announced which pants they’ll wear — but I’m hoping for orange). I’m not sure if a Saints throwback would look very good against Denver’s “Orange Crush” throwback (although it would provide Hallowe’en vibes), but at least we’ll have the Saints wearing their best looking outfit of all.
I’ve been pretty brutal on the Saints sartorial choices this year (they’ve yet to wear their regular gold pants!) and especially their inexplicable desision to go exclusively mono-black at home and mono-white on the road. Even their one “Color Rush” game this year (on the road in KC) is basically mono-white. But, the transgressions so far will at least be mitigated tonight, when Saints will finally look like the Saints.
When it comes to the black throwbacks, the Saints have been one of the most inconsistent teams in terms of usage. They’ve worn them exactly eight times since 1994. Here are those wearings.
- 1994 (twice), against the Bucs and Giants
- 2002, against the Bucs
- 2011 (twice), against the Bucs and Texans
- 2016, against the Lions
- 2022, against the Rams
- 2023, against the Panthers
Tonight will mark the ninth time the team will wear the throwbacks. I’ve argued on here before that the Saints should blow up their current uniforms and use the black throwbacks, along with the CR jersey and pants, as the basis for new uniforms going forward. Of course, as you’ve probably noticed before, the shade of gold on the current helmet doesn’t match the old gold of the jersey numbers, sleeve stripes or pants.
Matching the helmet to the throwback gold might be easier said than done, but if Vanderbilt can do it, so too can the Saints.
There is perhaps another reason the Saints should use the throwbacks as the basis for a new uniform. Of the eight times they’ve worn them, they have only lost once. So their record in these is 7-1.
Here are the dates, scores and opponents:
9-18-94 Defeated Buccaneers, 9-7 (W)
10-2-94 Defeated NY Giants, 27-22 (W)
12-1-02 Defeated Buccaneers, 23-20 (W)
9-26-11 Defeated Texans, 40-33 (W)
11-6-11 Defeated Buccaneers, 27-16 (W)
12-4-16 Lost to Lions, 23-13 (L)
11-20-22 Defeated Rams, 27-20 (W)
12-10-23 Defeated Panthers, 28-6 (W)
As I’ve said frequently, it’s not the uniforms that win the games, but players and fans are often a superstitious (or at least a little stitious) lot, and will attribute on field success or failure to the uniforms. So, the Saints should be wearing these as often as possible, right?
Regardless of their superior record while wearing these, I think most of us would agree that this is a damn fine looking uniform. Ignoring the gold mismatch, when I think of the Saints, these are pretty much the uniforms I’m envisioning in my head.
I’m not sure when the decision to wear the throwbacks for this game was made, but the Saints weren’t tipping their hand. A few days ago, the team called for a blackout, and tweeted a photo of a player in the team’s regular helmet and jersey. I’m sure the team knew then they would be wearing throwbacks, but they didn’t use a photo of a player in throwbacks.
Fans going to Thursday’s game:
WEAR BLACK ⬛️
Story: https://t.co/CXbrmG3OTI pic.twitter.com/kbFj5Anvrm
— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) October 14, 2024
In addition to sporting the beautiful retro unis, the Saints will also be enshrining longtime QB Drew Brees in the team’s Hall of Fame tonight. We’ll see if the fans all wear black as the team requested.
I know we’ve talked about the Saints a lot recently, but I would assume most of you’ll agree with me that the throwbacks are by far the team’s best uniform (and if you disagree, I’d love to hear why). And do you agree with me that between the CR unis and the throwbacks, the Saints already have the makings of a superior uniform set? I’ve argued they should also modify their black alternate helmets to recreate the 1969 preseason look, fix the gold shade on the gold helmets, and be good to go. And for those who like black britches, they could add a throwback set of those. That would give them two helmets, two jerseys, and three sets of pants (gold, white, black). If they need an alternate, they could introduce a gold jersey, similar to the one-game wonder they wore in 2002 against the Vikings. Done and done.
Your thoughts?
I much prefer the current helmet shade of gold to the old yellow-gold. And the throwbacks have THREE different gold colors on the throwback, thats Dallas levels of crap on a stick. Just stick with one shade and then we’ll talk
That shade of old gold is hideous. And while Vanderbilt may prove that it’s possible to get the shades to match, I’d argue that their “gold” is a different colour again.
Whether they use the old gold or the current gold, 100% agree the throwback design; stripes, gold pants, etc, should be their full time uniform. They should exclusively wear gold pants, no white or black.
It still boggles my mind how much Nike struggles to create the metallic colored pants, be it gold or silver. Material technology has only gotten better, yet they are unable to produce pants in those colors? It feels like an instance of whatever pant template and material they use being difficult to render metallic, but rather than the customer, the NFL, demanding Nike make uniforms to the specs of the team, Nike dictates the specs to the team.
Hence why I think we don’t wear the gold pants more in the regular season. They’re khaki. They’re not the shimmery gold we wore in the Super Bowl which were made by Reebok. The current Nike gold khakis look awful. The 49ers golds match way better and look better. But still matte.
Those throwbacks are definitely superior to anything the Saints are wearing now, and the old gold is superior to the Vegas gold.
That said, the Saints’ current uniforms are fine with the gold pants, which they never wear even though they won a Super Bowl in them. I could never understand why, given that New Orleans is such an eclectic and colorful city, its football team would want to dress itself all in black. I mean, purple, green and gold wouldn’t work on a football uniform so I’m not asking for that, but all-black is so *not* New Orleans. Maybe if the black pants had gold and white stripes, or were worn with gold socks, it might be better.
New Orleanian here…I completely 100% agree.
Being a stickler, green/yellow/purple are the Mardi Gras colors, and like king cake, traditionally aren’t deployed except during Carnival season. Aesthetically, the colors could work together, but not historically. The NBA Pelicans look good, for instance.
As was mentioned previously, Vandy’s gold is quite different than the gold on the Saints’ throwbacks. The Saints can solve all issues uni-wise by just wearing the damn tan-gold pants they already have. I would certainly prefer them to revamp their normal set with stripes similar to the throwbacks (and match the golds), but that’s wishful thinking. Why? Because then then don’t have a throwback option, which everyone seems to like for use on special occasions, etc.
GTGFTU – The last Thanksgiving Day game at the Silverdome, 11/27/01. The Packers beat Detroit 29-27 to continue the Lions’ winless season at that point, dropping them to 0-10 en route to a 2-14 finish.
Guess the game from the scoreboard: April 13, 1976. Final score 7-4 Red Sox.
Home opener and first game using the new video board above the center field bleachers.
I don’t like this weird shade of gold. Looks a little like mustard. For new uniforms I’d rather they take this uniform and match the helmet color, or come up with a new gold for both.
I much prefer the Saints’ current set, as long as they wear the gold pants. The (old) gold on the throwbacks look tarnished, maybe like a brassy color.
I’m a cable guy as well. I’ve tried to ditch cable once before but there wasn’t the same satisfaction that cable has when you can just turn on the television and walk away compared to turning on the streaming service and flicking from genre to genre just to have some background noise while, for example, prepping supper.
If the Lions, Jets, Texans and Broncos can have 3 different helmets, why can’t Saints get third helmet that will hold to the true colors of their throw back uni’s. It looks cheap having at beauty of uniform and the helmets don’t match colors.
If any one has an answer to this add question. I can’t tell by the pictures but does the fleur de lis on black Saints helmet, that’s pared with white throwbacks, the original old gold or the Vegas gold ? Thanks,if some has the answer.
Regarding the third helmet: the NFL changed the “rules” for this season to allow for three helmets for teams who redesigned their uniforms this year (so, Jets, Texans, Broncos, Lions and Eagles were all eligible). Next year, all teams will be permitted to add a third shell, should they so desire.
So the Saints can add a throwback helmet, but not until next season. I’m hoping they actually redesign (and use the throwbacks as the basis for that redesign), but failing that, the could add a new shell in “old gold” to pair with the CR and throwbacks.
The Lions don’t have three different shell colors. They have their silver shells (which are stripped of their decals when worn with the throwback uniforms) and the blue shells (which are paired with the black uniforms).
Yes, I’m well aware. I was stating that the Lions were one of the teams who redesigned for 2024, so they were eligible for a third helmet, not that they have a third helmet.
Thanks Phil for explanation. On Chris H
point on Bolts, G-men, and Rams all being quicks in legacy uni’s that is correct. But they are legacy uni’s. Saints is a throw back to an era of unique uniforms. Mismatching their colors to the throwback era helmet is an injustice. That’s just my thought.
Totally fine with the Saints’ throwback mismatches, and others too such as the NYG’s legacy/whatever’s and the bye-gone looks of the Vikes, Rams, Chargers…wish the Eagles would have gotten the helmet color correct oh their throwbacks rather than color-correcting it to match the jerseys – though I don’t necessarily like that set at all.
Agreed, it’s a quirk but it is a historically accurate quirk.
Match the golds and that is a TOP uniform in the league.
Agree.
New Orleans’ problems began the season the stripes were removed from the sleeves. I would like to see a return to the expansion-year uniforms, but Archie Manning’s 7-9 Miracle Season look would also be fine. 2-color numbers are crucial to the Saints’ appearance.
On the MLB uni tracking, the Mets loss in the BFBS jerseys puts teams at 4-10 in the playoffs while wearing alternates, with nobody winning while wearing an alternate since October 6th, when the Phillies and Padres both won.
So nice to see the Saints going non-mono!!!!! Also nice to see that Seattle is going to break out the gray pants against Atlanta. What I don’t understand is the Titans going mono-white against the Bills who are wearing white pants. They have two different pairs of blue pants. Would have made for a nice contrast.
Although it wasn’t the official color, I thought of the original Saints’ colors (thinking of Al Hirt and “When the Saints Go Marching In”) as brass and black. It was brass – a darker brown-gold. Even with the wider number outline, the numbers were either too light on white jerseys or too dark on black jerseys, or both.
But I liked them. They were unique. And I always liked uniforms where the designer took a big home run swing – maybe it connects, maybe it’s a big whiff.
Some of those jerseys: Astros tequila sunrise, White Sox leisure suits, Vancouver’s Flying V, LA’s Burger Kings.
People have opinions on the wild jerseys, but no one has opinions on the boring ones. After the White Sox had the beach blanket SOX jerseys, they had very boring script ones. I liked the Expos space-age racing stripes inside that space-age stadium, but the pinstripes and script were bad (IMHO).
As for the Saints, you’re almost glad they have white and black pants rather than mismatched gold ones.
On the topic of helmets not matching the uniforms; the classic Rams and 1980’s Giants both had helmets a much darker shade of blue than their jerseys,
…And they looked might good!
Some would like to see the Chargers throw back to the Air Coryell royal uniforms from their San Diego heydays (a
few might think that would be ‘trolling’ – YMMV) – I say don’t consider it unless the helmet color is the original shade of darker blue.
The best parts about the throwback has to be the stripes on the pants!
I’d be happy if they’d simply wear the gold pants they have now. Stop wearing white pants and the ugly black helmet. Black jersey, gold pants. White jersey, gold pants. I’d be ok with the occasional use of black pants, but once per white jersey and once per black jersey per season. This throwback is ok, but I wouldn’t want them to wear it permanently.
Why would the Saints want their fans wearing black? Is it a funeral or a celebration of Drew Brees? With the lousy lighting in the Superdome, it’s going to look empty.
Yay!!!! The Broncos are going mono-white…… Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Way to f’up what could have been a very colorful game.
Thanks for the sarcastic “yay,” Jeff. I saw the Broncos trot out in all white and wanted to puke. The orange pants are 99.9% better.
Orange pants/blue socks would have made a much better looking game. Even in that horribly lit Superdome.
I don’t care what shade of gold they use, JUST. MAKE. THEM. MATCH. In this day and age, mismatching colors are unacceptable and lazy. I personally prefer the original shade of gold.