Good morning, Uni Watchers. And a happy Hump Day to all!
As you are likely aware, the New York Jets will be debuting their Black for Blacks Sake alternates tomorrow night, when they face the Houston Texans at Jet Life Stadium in New Jersey. With tomorrow also being Halloween, I noted there is probably no better time to go BFBS, if you have to go BFBS at all.
In the comments section of that article (as well as other columns in the past), we had some folks wondering if a BFBS uniform could be made better — or at least add a little variety — if teams were to mix and match some elements from their primary uniforms in with the black gear. I actually had similar thoughts earlier this year, when the Commanders introduced their gold pants: since Washington’s BFBS uniform is fairly yellow-heavy, how would it look if the team paired the gold pants with the other black elements (obviously I used a different template for that one). My first thought was, “looks better, but it also looks like the Steelers.” But I filed that thought away thinking maybe I’d pursue a more full exploration of BFBS/Mix & Match.
There are currently four NFL teams who have a BFBS alternate (well, five, if you consider Philly to be BFBS, but they’ve always had black elements in their current set, so I am not including them): The Jets, the Commanders, the Cardinals and the Lions. The first three teams are full BFBS (including helmet), while the Lions have a BFBS below-the-neck look with their new blue helmets.
For each of the teams, I’m going to show you some concepts where BFBS elements are mixed and matched. Interestingly, each of the four teams has two helmets, but they don’t always correspond to a set of pants. For example, the Jets have both green and black helmets, as well as green and black pants. That’s a fairly straightforward mix/match. I won’t include either white jersey or pants or socks in the mix & match, as the team doesn’t have a white helmet. In the Commanders case, they have a burgundy and a black helmet, but not a gold helmet. But I still want to see how the BFBS looks with gold pants, so there will be some combos where there are three distinct colors. The Cardinals and Lions have other color mix/match issues, and I’ll explain those when I show you the concepts.
The goal here isn’t to necessarily argue for (or against) any particular combo, but merely to see what some possible mix/matches would look like if teams chose to swap some uniform elements for black elements, while still wearing some of the black elements. For this exercise I have only one rule: pants and socks must be different colors (as do jerseys and pants). So all theoretical combos won’t be shown. If it’s not entirely clear, hopefully the graphics will explain it better than my words.
Graphic templates from the wonderful Gridiron Uniform Database.
Let’s go.
New York Jets
Since the Jets are debuting their new all-black uniforms tomorrow, we’ll start with them. As noted, the Jets have a full BFBS uniform, as well as a full all-green uniform (which they thankfully haven’t yet worn). So if we mix match the black/green elements, there are four possible combinations of green and black (where no jerseys/pants or pants/socks can be the same color).
Interesting. The Jets have one problem some of the other teams don’t: their green pants have a white stripe, while their black pants have a green stripe. So pairing the green jersey with the black pants would be fine, but the opposite would introduce a white stripe where a black stripe on the green pants might be more cohesive. But the green jersey and pants don’t have any black on them. So the green/white jerseys (especially with the thick white collar) don’t really pair with the black pants. It’s not terrible, but the black uniform was clearly designed to be worn without any mixing or matching.
With all that being said, I kinda think the look of the green/black/green/black (on left, above) uniform might be worth a look on the field. I honestly don’t think any of the other three combinations particularly works. I’d rather the Jets (or any team) not go BFBS at all, but if they must have some black, I think pairing the green helmets and pants with the black jerseys and socks could work.
Washington Commanders
With both black and burgundy helmets, those elements can be mixed and matched easily. But I also want to see how the gold pants would work. Let’s look at the burgundy/black combos first.
I thought I’d like these more than I do. But the elements seem a bit too disparate to work together. Like the Jets, the Commanders all-black uniform wasn’t designed to be mixed and matched. And if any mix/match were to occur, the same color helmet and jersey would probably need to be paired up. Of these four, maybe the black/black/burgundy/black combo would work. But I’m not sure that look is any better than mono-black.
Now. What would happen if we add some gold pants to the mix. I’m *kinda* cheating here, since there is no gold helmet, but let’s take a look anyway.
I like how the third from the left concept (black/black/gold/black) works. The team could definitely swap in their gold pants for the black ones — but the problem with that is the team looks like the Steelers with that combo. So, even though sartorially it might “work,” there’s no way the team would ever wear this combo.
Arizona Cardinals
In a year and a half of this new uniform set, the Cardinals have NEVER even mixed a single element from their red or white uniforms (which we all think they should at least try, or at the very least, pairing their red socks with the all-white uniform, or pairing white socks with the white helmet/red jersey and pants). The all-white is actually a decent looking uniform, but it would be even better if the team wore cardinal socks with it. But since they won’t even do that, hoping they’ll mix/match with the BFBS uniform is probably not something that would ever happen.
The Cardinals also have a helmet-match problem: they don’t have a red helmet, so the mix/match will be limited. There’s also a problem with the striping (or lack thereof). The red jersey and pants have no stripes, while both the black and white uniforms do. So for the Cardinals, I’ll create combos with the black and red and black and white elements, first with black helmets, then with white ones. For the white helmets, I’ll only mix/match white and black elements.
I’m actually surprised that some of the above combos might actually work, particularly the combo on the left (black/black/red/black). I don’t love the look, but I do like it better than the mono-black. And no one in the NFL has a combo like that (unless the Falcons were to ever wear the red pants they introduced, but have never worn, with this new uni set). Of course, black/black/red/black doesn’t exactly look like the Cardinals, but then neither does the BFBS uniform. The two concepts on the right (mixing black and white) look ok (and would work with the stripes), but both the Falcons and Ravens already have similar combos.
How about if we see how the black elements would look with the white helmets.
Hmmm. They don’t look like the Cardinals (and if they’re gonna mix/match, they should try it with the red uniform before the black), but I like both of these — and it goes to show you how the Cardinals are really a white helmet team. I’m not sure I’d want to see either of these on the field, but they’d definitely work as combos.
Detroit Lions
The Lions pose a different problem from the other three teams: they don’t have a black alternate helmet (which is why the blue over mono-black looks so bad). Now, the Lions have actually teased a mix/match, so it’s possible we’ll get to see the blue/black/blue/black combo at some point. But we haven’t seen it yet. But the Lions do have a silver/gray helmet, as well as silver/gray pants, so how might the black jersey look if we mixed it with the silver pants?
OK, I LOVE the combo on the left. Blue/black/blue/black could actually look really good on the field — and since they’ve already teased it, maybe this will actually happen. As far as mixing the black and silver/gray? Well, they’ve pretty much done that already (2005-07). We railed against it then, and it probably wouldn’t look any better today. The Lions barely wear the silver/gray pants as it is — so if they’re going to wear them, let it be with the blue or white jerseys. Does the silver/black/silver/black look better than the blue/black/black/black? Probably, but that’s not saying much, and the Panthers and Raiders might like a word with them if they did.
But those are just my opinions. Since the mix/match has been discussed, I thought we might like to at least visualize some possible combos. And some of you might like what you saw.
I’d love to hear your thoughts. Do you like any of the proposed combos? If so, which ones? If you don’t, I completely understand (and largely agree). But the point of this wasn’t to advocate for mixing and matching BFBS with other colors, per se; the point was to offer an alternative to the full-BFBS teams wear. If they’re going to wear some BFBS, should they go all the way, or swap in a team color just to shake things up a bit?
The floor is yours.
I like the Lions with black jersey with silver helmet and pants; as well as the Cardinals with black pants with the white jersey and helmet. The others seem to clash too much and are unattractive. I don’t care for BFBS but the all black look is preferred to the others mixing regular team colors with black.
Commanders away has plenty of black to pair with black pants.
I had the same thought. Considering the budding trend in teams like the Eagles and Jets wearing black pants on the road, I’d give good odds that the black pants get paired with the white jersey before it’s paired with the yellow pants.
There are some very interesting combos here. Obviously some work better than others. This reminds me of a similar idea that I’ve often pondered: What if teams mixed elements of their color rush uniforms with their regular uniforms? We’ve gotten a glimpse of that with the Bills, as they typically put their QBs in the red color rush jerseys (with regular pants) for their annual instrasquad scrimmage. Could you please do this exploration in a future edition?
Believe it or not, I actually did something like you asked in 2017 and 2018 — link and link
Unfortunately, all the graphics for that project were lost when Flickr terminated my account. I can definitely try to resurrect this!
Now that the Ravens have a purple helmet, Purple/Color Rush Purple/White would look great! (Maybe with some minor changes to the striping on the pants)
Mustard pants.
Black pants only pair with a black helmet. Otherwise they look completely out of place.
Of all the looks I think black only works with the Jets uniforms, and of them, either green/black/green or black/green/black. But the black helmet is sort of a non starter because the green Jets logo isn’t very discernable on it.
I think all of the examples in the lede photo are great :) There are a few other options throughout that work too, but those are probably the best.
The Pirates-Orioles photo is from Game 1 of the 1979 World Series, a 5-4 Orioles victory. Birds got 5 in the first and held on to take the opener.
Commanders B/B/G would be AWESOME.
Yeah, I think it works. But again, the problem is they’d look an awful lot like the Steelers.
But then again, every team that goes BFBS 1) not only doesn’t look like “themselves,” but 2) looks like every other BFBS team. So maybe the answer *is* mixing and matching BFBS with some team color elements, which would at least have the effect of looking a bit more like themselves. If that makes sense.
I’m thinking the reason you left the Eagles out of your graphics is because they’ve always done what your graphics proposed, mixing their black helmet, shirt, or pants with other color elements. They’ve worn black pants this year with a white shirt twice, with black and green helmets. They started their black shirts in 2011 with white pants. They’ve gone black shirt and pants, at least, twice. But they usually wear their white socks with everything (except, maybe, their kelly green this coming weekend). I think they’ve even worn their black shirts with green pants once, hoping never again. Anyway, just thought I’d share that the Eagles were, apparently, ahead of the curve on this.
GTGFTS
21 October 1986
World Series Game 3
Keith Hernandez at bat ready to add the 13th and final Met hit of the night to complete the 7-1 win to give the Mets their first WS win since 1973. Bob Ojeda with the win, Oil Can Boyd gives up a lead off Lenny Dykstra HR and a 4 run first to take the loss.
I have to concur re: the Jets; green/black/green/black works but the other combos don’t, and I think G/B/G/B would need a black facemask and black pants stripes to be fully cohesive. The others are just 2017-Rams-level mismatches.
The Lions combo on the left is FANTASTIC…
The Commanders look like the Steelers, the Lions look like the Panthers, the Cardinals look like the Falcons, and the Jets look like crap.
Is there a reason the Dodgers don’t wear the regular Los Angeles road jerseys?
The Cardinals black helmet, red jersey, black pants, red socks, is a great combo. This is so much better than the blood clot below the head look they currently wear.
Interesting article today. Anything’s better than mono black, but if they must…
For the Jets, I like the look of green/black/green and black/black/green, but don’t like the other combos. I hate all of the combos presented for Washington (I am also surprised I dislike them all after seeing them). Honestly, for the Lions and Cards, I like every combo shown, more or less.
As I’ve said many times, it’s a matter of contrast. The yoga leggings look always looks bad, particularly for the no-striped-pants teams. As nice as the suggestions look, I fear it’s not likely we’ll ever seem them. The mono mindset seems entrenched.
The green Jets jersey does not work at all with the black helmet or pants, owing to the lack of black on the jersey. A 90s-style version with black trim, especially on the collar, would work better, but that’s not what they currently have.
Similarly, the current blue Lions jersey just would not work with the black-trimmed blue helmet or the black pants, for similar reasons. When they had the previous black alternates, the regular jerseys also had black trim, and Bubbles was also outlined in black on the helmet. (Yes, we call the helmet lion Bubbles.)
The blue pants with the black Lions jersey and blue helmet would work well, though, given the blue pants lack stripes so there wouldn’t be any stripe conflict.
Interesting concept-work, Phil…but how dare you desecrate the Cardinals road uniform by putting them in BFBS britches!
These are more fitting for B Leaguers like the XF/USF/UFL…I get LA Wildcats vibes from the Commies and NY/NJ Hitmen ones from the Lions.
Yeah, some of these concepts just look wrong. Obviously I’m not advocating for any of these — but with folks suggesting some BFBS teams mixing in some non-BFBS elements, I just wanted to see how they’d possibly look. Arizona’s mono white is excellent (though I wish they’d wear red socks); I don’t even think they should mix in their red pants with the white uniform, much less black. OTOH, I wish they’d wear the white pants with the red tops (and with red socks). If I were in charge of their uniforms (and had to pick elements from their current set), I’d definitely work on w/w/w/r and w/r/w/r before I bothered with the BFBS stuff.
Interesting ideas, although I really don’t like a lot of black, especially the helmet. I agree the Cardinals are a white helmet team. My old high school mascot is the Cardinals and for years they wore white helmets with the NFL cardinal decal but some years added red and black stripes up the middle. When the whole BFBS really took off, they went to black helmets and it was really hard to see the cardinal on the side. I haven’t been by the old school recently but I hope they went back to white
Man, there’s just no good way to do it. I don’t like BFBS and I wish it would go away, but if the genie is out of the bottle, ok what now? I want to say, the more other team colors that are present, the better, so the teams have something identifying themselves as themselves. But if we can allow an analogy from a different sport, did the Mets look good with blue undersleeves and blue socks with their black jerseys? Sadly I say no. Yay to orange and blue to make me think it’s the Mets in black, but then it just makes the black stuff look even more out of place.
Paul Lukas calls purple “the Celine Dion of colors…it could be good in small restrained doses but we never get ‘just that.'” To me, it’s more like “just a little bit ruins it all,” instead of “could have been good with less.” BFBS: the cilantro of athletic aesthetics (ironically I’m not a cilantro hater, but if you are, maybe you get it)? Or truffle oil?
The cilantro analogy works for me, since I’m one of the few people who seems to neither hate nor love it. If it’s there, great, but if not, I’m not going to add it.
That’s about where I stand on BFBS – I don’t understand the hate for it, but I can definitely see that it’s overused.
The Jets do have a white helmet. They wore it with their “Super Bowl” throwbacks on Oct. 14. They could use that with modern graphics applied to pull off a mix/match.
It’s true that they do — the reason I didn’t include it is because it has the SBIII decals — I didn’t want to modify any of the equipment (including helmet decals) for this exercise. If they were to somehow ever pair the white helmet with any BFBS components, they would need a different helmet logo.
Just about all these combos work to some degree, but only because the jersey doesn’t match the pants, and the pants don’t match the socks.
I think all those Cardinals mashups look cool
Is there a website we can use to toggle different uniform options?
I wish.
I think the EA Sports Madden game (I’ve never played) allows you to customize uniforms. To my knowledge, that’s the only uniform generator. But I would kill if there were a website that provided that ability. There may be some sites that are team specific (there is, or at least was, an Oregon Ducks uni generator), but I don’t think there’s any such animal that allows uni options for a league or conference.
Looks like the Oregon uni generator hasn’t been updated for 2024.
link
Cardinals have solid jerseys if they do any kind of mixing. The monochromatics are boring
I’d love to see a mockup of Jets G/B/B/G. That’s what I had suggested in my first comment on the original post. I realize the consensus here (which I agree with) is to do away with BFBS entirely, but I think black tops with color bottoms don’t work. The Raiders might be the only case when they do, and obviously the pants are silver, not color.