Good Monday morning, Uni Watchers! I hope everyone had a restful and pleasant (and hopefully long) weekend, and that your Thanksgiving was bountiful.
If you like odd uni combos, the NFL had that in spades yesterday. Four teams debuted never-before-worn-in-2024 combos, three of which are pictured above. I’ll likely have more to say on all of those teams in the near future, but yesterday brought us the Jaguars in (almost) all-teal…
… the Panthers in silver/black/blue/black…
…the Bengals in orange/orange/black/orange…
…and the Ravens in black/black/purple/black.
And you may have noticed a lot of players had colorful cleats and shoes yesterday. That’s because this week and next are the 2024 “My Cause My Cleats” weeks.
MCMC gives players an opportunity to pick a cause that is important to them and to represent their chosen organization on custom-designed cleats. You can read more about that here.
So you know some of this Sunday’s games were colorful. But which were lookers and which weren’t worth watching from a uni perspective? Let’s check out all the games…
Chicago Bears vs. Detroit Lions
For more on all these games, click here.
Following the regular slate of Thanksgiving games, for the second straight season the NFL had one “Black Friday” game, and this one may have been the best looking game yet. Raiders/Chiefs always looks good, but da Raidahs busted out their silver number road throwback jerseys, which only added to an already beautiful game. KC looked great in home red as they always do.
Decent enough looking game in Minnesota, although I would really prefer it if the Vikings would simply wear purple socks, especially against another team in white pants and hose. I’ve given up hoping the Cardinals will ever wear red socks with their white uniform.
Both the Bengals and Panthers have worn different uni combos often this season, but so too have the Jaguars. Yesterday they debuted their all teal look for 2024, and yeah, it’s a lot of teal. I don’t love the Texans road kits, but when they go navy/white/navy/white, it’s not a bad look (I’d love to see that look with red socks). Not often are the Texans the better-attired team, but they were yesterday.
Except for the disappointing hosiery, this looked like an old AFC East rivalry game from last century. New England, sporting their Pat Patriot throwbacks for the second time this season, looked fantastic. Despite each team wearing three color-matching elements (helmets, pants and hosiery were all white), it was still a beautiful matchup. Also, in a cool cross-sport promotion, the Pats walked into their stadium in Bruins sweaters, as the Boston NHL team was celebrating the 100th anniversary of the franchise’s first game.
Yesterday’s tilt in Atlanta was yet another all-black vs. icy white game, although the Falcons frequently go mono-black, and at least it’s an official team color. At least the Chargers broke up the all-white with beautiful blue hosiery. This would have been a good week to go with gold pants.
The Bengals broke out another new combo, their ninth different look this year, when they went orange/orange/black/orange. And they haven’t even worn the most different combos in the NFL this year! And as it is wont to be, Steelers vs. Bengals is often a color palette special. It was also only the fifth time the Bengals have ever worn this combo, and they’ve worn it thrice against the Steelers, and twice against the Chiefs.
I had this matchup between the Seabirds and Jets penciled in for the “And One” (and it may still be). But two things I wasn’t expecting to happen did. It was a bright, sunny day in the Meadowlands, and the Seahawks sported white hose, which is actually not a bad look. Too bad the Jets didn’t get the memo that you only wear mono-black for Black Friday on Black Friday. But the sun definitely helped, and it was possible to see the green stripes on the Jets BFBS unis.
The Commanders were another team that didn’t get the Black Friday memo, becoming the second team to go BFBS yesterday. And you know I don’t love the Titans uniform design, but I do like their colors. The navy/white/powder/white combo actually contrasted nicely with the BFBS Commanders. It may still end up as the “And One,” but it looked a bit better than I anticipated.
If there were ever a case to be made for a team to wear just one uniform combo for an entire season, the LA Rams might be the poster child. Yeah, they’ve got those “My Name Is” badges and rubbery numbers, but their white over gold is far better than any of their other options. The Saints continue to disappoint with their insistence on mono-black below the neck at home. The stripeless pants and matching hosiery look terrible, especially for guys in white shoes.
I’ll have more to say today about the Panthers’ uniform proclivities, but suffice to say the team debuted a new combo in yesterday’s tilt against the Buccaneers, who have been rocking the Super Bowl look of pewter/white/pewter/black at home and on the road of late. This game looked a lot better than I thought it would!
The Ravens are another team who have worn multiple uni combos this year, and yesterday they went with the rare black/black/purple/black look. I was surprised how well the purple and midnight green looked together. The Eagles now seem to wear only white hosiery with their white jerseys, so going green/white/green/white was a great sartorial call.
And for the penultimate game of Week 13, we got our second snow game of the season. It sure did look pretty, but this wasn’t the “fun” kind of snow with big fluffy flakes and good packing consistency — no, this was hard, cold, sleet-like corn snow, which happens at colder temps. I spent four years at college in upstate New York, so I know this stuff well. It stings when it hits you, and driving (as well as running on a football field) are treacherous. There was some sloppy play, but that’s to be expected, and the uniforms looked great. The snow was good for one thing though. This game had Top 5 (and potential #1) all over it before the snow made it even more awesome. Where will it land now?
And there you have it. Week 13 is almost in the books. Tonight the Denver Broncos will be debuting their new white helmet and blue jersey. I’ll have more on that later today, once the Broncos reveal their pants and socks. With the Broncos playing the Browns (who are wearing orange helmets, white jerseys, orange pants and white socks), we can probably rule out orange pants and white socks for the Broncos (but you never know). I have a hunch they’ll be going white/navy/navy/navy (or possibly navy pants and white socks). I think the best possible look would be white pants and blue socks.
Since we had a couple nice games on Thanksgiving, and a great one on Friday, there will be a lot of matchups that might otherwise make a T-5 getting passed over. And there are two very strong contenders for the And One. Who in and who’s out? Let’s find out in today’s …
Game 3, 1975 NLCS, in Pittsburgh. Reds finish sweep of the Pirates.
Love the black/process blue look of the Panters. Jags need not go mono-turquise unless they some more accents to the pants/jerseys. It is just too blah. I prefer the Chargers with the gold pants. But, the white pants/blue socks work pretty good as well. Love the Dolphins throwbacks. Eagles/Ravens game looked pretty good.
Now we have to endure the Broncos tonight mono-blue with a white lid. Ehhhhhhhhhhhhh
Fairly certain that is the first time Carolina has worn silver/black/blue in franchise history. Need to check the GUD again on how many of the 24 possible combos they have worn.
It was.
I’ll have an article on this later this morning.
I liked it more than I should have, between light helmet over dark jersey/pants, and three different non-white colored elements, ticks off all the boxes for bad design. But the black over blue did look great, helmet aside. I think long term a black helmet paired with that combo, or a blue helmet would be a great full time look for them. Black helmet and blue pants full time, paired with both black and white jerseys as the standard home and away sets would be excellent. I’ve always found their use of silver boring when black and the bright blue make a great combo.
As a long time Panther fan and a traditionalist, I was pleasantly surprised at how well they looked yesterday. Blue pants look better than the white that has been worn with the black jersey in the past. I am sure several will later comment about the need for the black helmet or perhaps the need for a blue or white helmet. Personally, I thought the silver helmet made the uniform even better.
My five and one
5 Saints/Rams
4 Panthers/Buccaneers
3 Colts/Patriots
2 Bills/Niners
1 Packers/Dolphins
and one
1 Chargers/Falcons
I debated the Lions/Bears and Jaguars/Texans as five. So many pro and college teams are going with a mono uniform, I have started thinking some aren’t bad. For the most part the mono look is better if the helmet is different. The Bengals/Steelers game was nice but I believe there was too much orange. Solid black pants may have made that game number one.
Lions mono isn’t good though, some mono is good most of it isn’t and never will be. It’s more for college to me than the pros. Pros should be more mixing and matching.
Beg to differ on the Steelers/Bengals. The yellow and orange just don’t look good together to me. I’d put Bucs/Panthers in that slot.
I thought the Titans/Commies contrast looked better than Jets/Seahawks, but that’s kind of a “which poop is your favorite?” argument.
Something missed both on Friday and today regarding the Lions’ Thanksgiving game: Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery have leaned so hard into the “Sonic and Knuckles” bit, they were even wearing cleats made to look like Sonic and Knuckles’ shoes in Thursday’s game. link
GTGFTU: 10/23/2016 – San Diego Chargers (33), Atlanta Falcons (30) OT; Georgia Dome.
Too bad they couldn’t have given us that uni matchup this week.
Your top 4 could be in any order… so nice!
I’d have moved the steelers bengals to the 3 (maybe even the 2) slot and pushed the other games back. otherwise its is a great list
100% agree. leaning #2 overall.
The Raiders unis are classic, and I love when they break out the silver-numbered jerseys. But it seems to me, over the years, the silver has gotten just a little too light…it almost looks white, especially when paired with the white jerseys. Their “silver” used to be a little closer to gray, and I think the contrast looked much better then. They need to darken it back up just a touch.
link
I see what you’re saying, but this is why I think silver teams should not have white pants because silver is light enough. Like the Lions really need to abandon the white pants after the Dan Campbell era ends and return to silver as primary. The silver used to look a lot better before Nike took over. When the silver used to shine it looked closer to gray for teams. I think the Raiders still use metallic pants, but they do look like lighter in the throwbacks than they do the primary uniforms.
I concur with you, Curt, and my wife – a big Chiefs fan thus Raidahs hater – contributed her aesthetical thought about the silver numbers while we watched the game, that a thicker black outline would definitely help the silver to pop better. I agreed, adding that the helmet logos need to be the 1963 throwback models. We’ve been hitched for 36 years, and to both think of us can make improvement comments about even da Raidahs was a big plus on, appropriately, Black Friday!
Also, I love your pic of the “Snake!” The Raiders were actually my first season-long favorite team – the Dolphins were my first, but I was still a few years from becoming an understanding fan. That Stabler was a southpaw, as am I in most regards, was an intriguing element, and that the Stillers kept them from making the Super Bowl was a driving factor. Apparently, I was satisfied with their SB XI win enough that I went with the Bengals and Buccaneers in ’77. After Cincy blew its playoff chances and Tampa Bay finally broke its 26-game drought with two season-ending wins, the Bucs have been my long-suffering favorite since.
I don’t usually take issue with yellow being referred to as “gold” in a sporting context, but I don’t think it works for the Rams’ shade.
I’m actually not a fan of the Raiders throwbacks. There’s not enough contrast between the jerseys and the pants, so the pants end up looking white rather than silver.
My Top 5:
5. Vikings/Cardinals – I really don’t share Arizona’s fascination with monochrome unis, and the Vikings needed contrasting socks. This squeaks into the Top 5, but only barely.
4. Bengals/Steelers – I wouldn’t mind if the Bengals wore this combo more often.
3. Buccaneers/Panthers – Love this look for the Bucs, and this combo (along with the silver/black/silver/black they wore in week 9) may be my favorite Panthers combo.
2. Patriots/Colts – This could be a perfect matchup, if only the teams ditched the leotard look and wore striped or contrasting socks. But this is my favorite look for the Pats.
1. Bills/49ers – For the second week in a row, the # 1 game is a snow game, but this would be # 1 regardless. I honestly can’t find fault with either of these uniforms.
+1 – It’s a tough choice between Seahawks/Jets and Commanders/Titans, but in the end it came down to this: I don’t like the elements of the Titans uniforms, but I like their colors more than I like the Seahawks colors, so Seahawks/Jets are my +1. But only by a razor-thin margin, and 5 minutes from now I might have a totally different answer. Also, if it weren’t for the fact that I absolutely love the Browns in orange/white/orange/striped, tonight’s matchup will be a contender by virtue of the Broncos white AHFAHS.
Chargers white over yellow is ugly and always will be no matter how hard you guys try
In theory, the Eagles look pretty good when break out the green pants (yes…I said it), but in practice, they looked odd due to the meshy back sections:
link
Best to stick with white, Birds.
Too much white in the Patriots-Colts game. They should have worn red (Patriots) and blue (Colts) socks. Looking at the GUD, they wore different versions of solid and striped socks over the 22 years they played each other from 1970 to 1992, until the Patriots changed their uniforms. Any of those sock options would have been better than mostly solid white tights for both teams.
Before the Dolphins commit to the throwbacks full-time (probably not until Stephen Ross dies or sells the team), they need to reduce the thickness of the number outline. While it may be historically accurate for the 1970s throwbacks, the orange is far too thick, especially on the TV numbers. By the Marino years, they had thinned it out, and at one point, had a layer of white between the 2 colors in the numbers. Either would be fine.
Happy Birthday, Anthony!
This would have been a good week to go with gold pants
Every single week is a good week for the Chargers’ gold pants.
I didn’t like the Raiders’ silver numbers in 1970 and I don’t like them now.
At least one offensive player for the Pats wore red socks. I think it was a receiver. Looked much better.
Friday/Monday NFL Uni posts are my favorites of the week. Enjoy the preview of the matchups, then photos and breakdown on Mondays!
Thanks Daegan!
I enjoy researching and writing about them too!
Niners-Bills might be the best looking game of the entire season. Both teams wearing their head to toe Sunday best, and in the snow! Absolutely spectacular. When the Niners have the good sense to wear their red leggings, I think they are the best dressed team in the NFL, home and road. It’s a crime that they even have the option for white hosiery.
When I saw the commanders in those jerseys with over and underlining… I thought to myself… “how did in not know about these?” Somehow I’ve managed to not notice all season that uniform element? Absolutely hideous. I get it’s consistent with their “branding” and for that, I guess it’s fine, but it feels really cheap, and for that reason, will always grab the top spot on my “worst uniforms” list.
They’ve actually had this BFBS uniform since the 2022 season. They’ve worn it seven times (including this past Sunday) since 2022. Thrice in 2022, twice last year, and twice (so far) this season.
This was one of the best uniform weeks of the season as there was only a few games that I didn’t care for with the uniforms. The only thing is these mono uniforms can kill the potential of a great uniform matchup. Bears/Lions got completely ruined by the Lions stupid blueberry uniform. That should’ve been blue on silver whether it was the Thanksgiving throwbacks or regular new home uniforms. Bears white on blue looks so good indoors at Ford Field that we just needed the Lions to do their part. I seriously can’t wait for this stupid Dan Campbell era to end in Detroit, silver pants need to comeback full-time after he is fired or retires whatever way it ends for him.
Too much white for me in the Giants-Cowboys game. I was hoping the Cowboys wore white, so that the the Giants wouldn’t have to wear their horrible terrible all white uniforms. Why would a team who won two SBs in the the white on gray combo go away from them? They’re getting karma from that move as the Giants have been mostly terrible in this road set the last 4 years outside of a lucky playoff win over the Vikings. This actually would’ve been the game for me for the Giants to breakout their special 100th anniversary uniforms. I’m one of the few people in the world who likes those uniforms. This would’ve been a great occasion to wear them.
I’m so glad the Packers unlike the Lions never sold out to an all green uniform and still wear the yellow pants to this day. I’m not a fan of mono whites, but the Dolphins throwbacks like the Jets are fire. I don’t want to see them full-time as they feel more like a throwback than a current uniform, but they should use this template if they ever change uniforms again.
I do like 49ers-Bills as there was no mono in this game, but I thought there was three better uniform games for me. The first one being Raiders-Chiefs, this was a classic rivalry game and the Raiders have worn their throwbacks two years in a row in Kansas City and almost pull off the upset in them both times. I’m so glad the Raiders ditched their white pants from color rush after 2017 and have opted for silver ever since, this might’ve been a Gruden move. Coaches matter when it comes to these uniforms, not all the time, so this is why I like rooting for certain coaches over others when it comes to uniforms.
The other two great uniform games were Bucs-Panthers, Bucs always look good in white on pewter and with two wins in a row in them, it looks like we’ll likely see the Bucs in this combo the rest of the season for road games. Black on blue was the Panthers best home combo for me so far, I like blue on black too, but that black on blue looked too awesome. Panthers doesn’t seem to do primary uniforms at the moment, but if they’re looking for a permanent home combo black over blue is it.
The other great one was Eagles-Ravens, OMG! This was so great. That white on midnight green from the Eagles clashed so well with the Ravens black on purple combo. Ravens have had the best mono uniforms since they were introduced in 2005, I believe with the all black and every time teams try to copy this they don’t look good. I like the black on purple look even better, though, they normally win in this combo, but it still looks so good that I wish it was their primary home uniform. I hate the Eagles all white uniform, so it was great to see them run with solid color pants again this week. If the Eagles ever bring back the Kelly Green uniforms, that silver would replace white.
Steelers-Bengals was great too, Steelers just like the Packers never sold out and switched to white which was horrible in the 60s. I love the Bengals combos this season, I wish they saved orange on black for Dallas next week, but this combo looks so good against Pittsburgh.
The rest of the games were not good, as it was like one team holding things up.
Too much white in that Colts-Pats game, I’m getting sick of the Colts not wearing blue pants on the road. Their road games would be more pleasing on the eyes if they added blue pants to the mix like they did briefly in 1995. Patriots should not wear throwbacks more than once a season.
I love the Texans white on blue uniforms, especially this version of it with the horns, one of my favorite road uniforms in the league right now. Jags all teal looks nasty, though, and so ugly. Could’ve been great if the Jags paired them up with white or black pants. I’m surprised the Jags never adopted tan pants. They would look good with the teal tops.
Cards & Vikes was too much white, but the Cards need silver pants badly.
I liked the Seahawks & Jets as the Jets all black isn’t bad. Seahawks white on blue is a winning combo for them and they win in them a lot. I still wish the Seahawks would switch to the throwbacks one of these years.
Titans & Washington was okay-ish, but I would’ve liked to have seen the mustard yellow pants with the black tops, especially since they wore them twice this season, why not run the yellow pants with them? Titans white on baby blue is their best look, but they need new uniforms badly. They’ll probably with the opening of the new stadium in a couple of years.
Worst uniform matchup was easily Chargers-Falcons. I hate the whole mono white vs. mono colored best matchups. Falcons uniforms when not mixed look terrible.
Finally, Rams-Saints, could’ve been great if the Saints would bring back their gold pants. Is this an ownership call on these mono black uniforms, Saints fans hate this combo now. It’s not like they’re winning in them either. It reminds me of the Lions right now. Rams road look is stellar with the yellow pants, I’ve really grown to like their SB winning uniforms, I know some people still don’t like them, but they’re amazing to me.
Browns-Broncos looks pretty good tonight to cap a great week!
“no, this was hard, cold, sleet-like corn snow, which happens at colder temps”
No, this was lake effect snow. Temps were actually in the mid-to-upper 20s. This is basically water from the lake that freezes on its way back down to earth.