Good Thursday morning, Uni Watchers. I hope everyone had a good Wednesday.
Before we get into the Broncos, ICYMI, I ran a short article yesterday afternoon that I’d love to make into a new feature, if you guys will indulge me — a reader shared his thoughts on on how Uni Watch has influenced him over the past decades. I’m sure some of you have similar thoughts or experiences over the years, and I’d love to hear from you. Perhaps you read a piece Paul (or I) wrote that you used in a “non-uni” interaction or setting, or you bought something recommended by Brinke in “Collector’s Corner,” or maybe you attended a UW gathering and became fast friends with another UW reader. It could be anything. Maybe you made one of the recipes featured in “Culinary Corner” (Hmmm…we have a few “corners” here…) or you began designing uniforms or you started tracking the uniform tendencies of your favorite team(s). If you’d like to share any of the ways UW has been an influence on your life, please shoot me an e-mail (phil.hecken@gmail.com)!
Now then.
I had hoped to write about the Broncos new alternate uniform which was worn on Monday Night Football against the Browns, but there was a bunch of other uni news on Monday and Tuesday. Yesterday was quite a “slow uni news day,” so I wanted to make a few observations about the Bronco MNF unis today.
When the Broncos first unveiled their new uniform set, I was initially unimpressed, thinking they weren’t “traditional” enough, and worried that they’d added a few too many doo-dads and “bumper stickers,” and really missed out on an opportunity to make their new throwbacks their primary uniforms. I was especially worred that they’d have a tendency to want to go with same color pants/hosiery with their several uniform options.
But I also wanted to see them on the field of play and in action. There were definitely a few combos I was excited to see. And while the team stuck to their orange and white primaries for the first 12 weeks, they did break out a few different pants/socks combos. They wore same color pants/hosiery in their first seven games (with the exception of their throwbacks in Week 5), but then went four consecutive weeks where they went with contrasting socks and pants, which looked much better. I began warming up to the new uniforms, even starting to like the sleeve cap with its unique design, and the asymmetrical pants stripes didn’t seem so radical. Denver had a new look, and they were owning it. The final piece of the uni-puzzle was to see their alternate helmet and blue jersey, which they wore Monday night.
Even though the sleeve cap design isn’t especially visible in long shots, I wanted to see it on the blue jerseys, because it is the one sleeve cap that gets the colors “right.” As I noted on Monday afternoon, according to the Broncos, their new colors are “Sunset Orange,” “Summit White,” and “Midnight Navy,” and the sleeve design “represents the sun rising and setting behind the mountain peak, and the dawn of a new day.” With the blue jersey, we can envision a snow capped mountaintop (white), with an orange sun setting behind it, while the blue serves as a dark shadow from the setting sun…
I get what they’re going for, but in many closeups I saw during the game, the location of the maker’s mark absolutely ruined any image of a setting/rising sun. Not only that, but it seemed that the majority of the players quickly had their jersey sleeves shift or ride up, thereby kinda ruining the storytelling.
The white helmet is new this year.
The team did have an alternate white helmet the past couple years, which they paired with their all-orange color rush uniform. That helmet featured the old “D” logo and a blue/orange/blue stripe. The new helmet takes its design cues from the team’s primary blue helmet, including its odd mini-triangle striping pattern. Since the decal on both the new primary blue and white helmets are the same, I was worried it wouldn’t be particularly visible.
Up close it’s fine, as the blue outline on the white horse is easily visible. But as one got further away from the action, the decal became less and less visible.
Watching on TV on the long shots, the helmet appeared almost solid white. I’m not sure if inverting the colors on the decal might have helped.
Likewise, the “stripe” formed by the mini-triangles was barely visible. The fact that it begins halfway up the back and stops at the crown of the helmet doesn’t help.
While I’m not averse to white helmets, per se, I’m not feeling this for the Broncos. And since fully one half of the NFL has a white helmet option, this just makes them look like a lot of other teams with an alternate white helmet. The fact that the Broncos went mono-blue below the neck, topped with a white helmet, reminded me a lot of what the Chargers wore the previous Monday night.
Speaking of mono — my own opinion is that if you’re going to go dark mono, the helmet needs to either match the color you’re wearing, or be darker. White or light colored helmets paired with a dark mono uniform just looks off to my eye.
With all that being said, I definitely liked the jerseys for the most part. I am a BIG fan of orange, but I am an even bigger fan of the blue jerseys. The NOB are big and easy to read, and likewise, the white numbers with orange outline are easy to read, even at distance. If one can ignore the maker’s mark and the sleeve caps aren’t askew, the cap design looks best on the blue jersey.
Unfortunately, this will be the only time this season the Broncos will wear the white helmet and blue jersey (as both are “alternates” and the Broncos will wear throwbacks one more time this year for their three alt max). I was really hoping they’d have paired the blue jersey with white pants and blue socks — a look they teased a day before they announced they’d go white/blue/blue/blue. And while I’d never not want them to wear their throwbacks, I do hope next year they wear the white/blue/white/blue combo they teased. I’d also love to see them pair their blue helmets with the blue jerseys, but I’m not sure that’s in the plans.
All in all, I wasn’t a huge fan of the Monday Night Football look, but I think the blue jersey has great potential. Check out this photo of a player sporting a white untucked undershirt — imagine the shirt is a pair of white pants. How good would this look?
What did you guys think of the Broncos new alternates? How about the helmet? Did you like the combo?
Love to have your thoughts.
GTGFTU: December 21, 2003, Heinz Field, Pittsburgh, PA; Steelers 40, Chargers 24.
GTGFTS: Dec 4, 1960 Lions 20, Colts 15.
First I thought “13-8 with 45 seconds left and it ended up 20-15?” Then it hit me that this must have been the game one of the Lions told George Plimpton about in Plimpton’s classic Paper Lion (which I read multiple times as a kid, which is why I remember the story).
I looked it up and I’m sure it was — the Lion recounted to Plimpton that Lenny Moore scored for the Colts in the last minute, then Earl Morrall hit Jim Gibbons with a long pass, Gale Cogdill took out 3 Colts with a block, and Gibbons scored the winner at the gun. The crowd went from full roar to silent in an instant.
The Lion told Plimpton something like “You have an experience like that once, there doesn’t need to be anything else again, ever.”
Interesting mix of team nicknames and cities in the out-of-town scores section of the board. I can see why “BEARS” would be used, as a year before there were two Chicago teams. Now, why SF got “49ERS”, who knows.
I’m still struggling to articulate why I don’t like the Broncos new uniforms, but I think it’s because there are so many “minor” problems:
The shade of orange is just a bit too light. I’m not even sure it changed, but it looks lighter than before to me.
The sleeve caps and pants stripes just don’t work.
The helmet stripe is a downgrade from the previous uniform.
Maybe they’ll grow on me, but so far I still really dislike them.
Agreed, and I am baffled why so many people here seem to like them while simultaneously deriding, for instance, the last Rams update, which is at least thematically consistent for the most part (I can understand not loving the gradient numbers or bisected horns). The new Broncos uniforms have far too many “dangling” elements that don’t seem to actually have any point to them, like the shoulder stripe business and the incomplete leg striping.
The white helmets are awful…….stick w/the navy or the throwback w/the “D”!!! All navy w/navy helmet would be my second fave to the throwbacks…..those are da BOMB!! :)
“Speaking of mono — my own opinion is that if you’re going to go dark mono, the helmet needs to either match the color you’re wearing, or be darker. White or light colored helmets paired with a dark mono uniform just looks off to my eye.”
Upvote this a million times.
The Broncos white helmet is awful and pointless. My impression of the rest of the Broncos new uniforms is that they are not completely awful, but all the little special design elements just don’t actually do anything or function properly to make them worth it. Was there a reason not to make the throwback the full time design? No. Well there was one reason, so you could sell throwback merch AND new design merch.
The mono blue is perfect for the blue helmet. The white helmet would be better paired with the white or the orange jersey. I wish alternate helmets didn’t have to be with alternate jerseys because they could make some really cool looks mix and matching their helmets.
100% agree you could create better looks with mix and match of the alternate helmets throughout the NFL. But I am 100% against mix and match, and alternate helmets (except throwbacks), because they dilute brand identity for these teams. Packers for instance, absolutely zero reason to have that white helmet.
Also while I am anti-mono everything but mono white, I do agree the navy helmet would look much better as a full mono navy than the white helmet there. In all cases like that, the white helmet sticks out, and to me looks like someone forgot to color in that part of the uniform in the original design sketch.
I get the whole “snow-capped mountains” thing, but yea, the white helmet just doesn’t work with the mono-navy. Partly because the helmet is just too white, and there’s not a whole lot of white on the rest of the uniform.
Take, for comparison, the Jets’ mono-green from 2002-2018, which I never liked either, but it was less offensive than this in large part because the helmet had a lot of green on it (decals, stripes, facemasks) and the uniform had a lot of white on it (sleeves, socks).
The new Broncos uniforms, at least for me, are on a par with the Cleveland Browns former uniforms, which they quickly retired after the 5 year moratorium and went back to traditional. I give this look 4 more years, and then hopefully they’ll go back to the “throwbacks” full time. I’ve never liked the stylized Bronco head, and especially NOT the tapered “Nike” stripes, and now the tapered helmet stripe is hardly noticeable on either the white (ugh!) helmet or navy helmet. I’m tired of “storytelling” when it comes to uniforms.
The Jets finally got it right this year (except for the BFBS uniform), and hopefully we’ll see the Seahawks return full time to the royal, silver, and green “throwback” look and the Patriots return full time to their “throwback” look. It’s all about the $$$. If retail sales are down, the team will change.
One thing I’m realizing that really annoys me with the Broncos new set is that all but two of the seemingly endless combos are designed as leotard type sock/pant combos. Give me some contrast there and I might like them a little more.
“I’m tired of “storytelling” when it comes to uniforms.”
This! This x 1000! I wish designers would stop trying to cram some ridiculous story into every uniform. There are a few uniforms where the story is actually evident. For example, if you know Washington DC at all, it’s clear what the Nationals’ City Connect uni is about. But I’m skeptical that the average person watching a game – even the average Broncos fan – would look at their sleeves and get that those asymmetrical blotches on the sleeves are supposed to represent the sun rising over a snow-capped mountain. Unless you’re reading the marketing materials, all these bells and whistles ultimately mean nothing. Even knowing what it’s supposed to represent doesn’t mean the design is good. It’s still just asymmetrical blotches on the sleeves.
W/B/W/B or W/B/W/O would look great for Denver
That’s the combo I was hoping for on monday evening. That would certainly fit a broncos look to me while taking away some of the awkward look of white, then a lot of blue.
I would definitely agree on the contrasting pants/socks combos. The whole leotard look is old and most of the uni combos are much more aesthetically pleasing to the eye.
I think the Broncos new uni set is, by and large, an improvement over the swoosh set from the last couple decades. That said, the white helmet doesn’t work for me at all: a white logo on a white helmet looks blank from far away and doesn’t look good in close up either.
my biggest problem with the broncos (and a lot of orange teams as well) is that in my eye, orange and royal blue go really well together no matter which is the dominant color. orange and darker blues? only good if the dark blue is the primary color with orange being the secondary. however, a lot of teams think the opposite is true, and aesthetically i think it looks hideous.
Want to see the Broncos do navy helmet, navy jersey, orange pants combo.
Surprised to see so much dislike for this wardrobe. I think it’s a vast improvement over the last wardrobe and it feels “new and youthful” and unique without being obnoxious or poorly thought out or leaning too hard into fads that other teams might be using. I thought this set looked great as well. My only real complaint is that Nike needs a new place for the swoosh. It clutters up the tiny little sleeves across the entire nfl. To a lesser extent, naming the colors as they did does mean that they should shuffle the sleeve colors a bit to make literal sense of the gimmick, but visually what they have now is just fine.
The white helmet doesn’t work with the mostly white decal, but overall, I’m a big fan of the Broncos new set. Huge upgrade over what they were wearing previously.
Easily the worst look from their already underwhelming new set and for a minute I thought they were the Chargers.
You’re the Orange Crush, guys. Not the blueberries.
This was my first thought. So much navy, but white is the next most used color, with minimal orange anywhere. Even during the First Nike Era (late Elway, SB champs), the orange seemed more prominent.
But on the bright side, Nike didn’t write “5280” all over the uniform, as they did for the Nuggets. At least, not large enough to be visible.
5280 is pretty prominent on the helmet’s nose bumper on both the white and blue helmets. That’s more than enough.
Did anyone get yesterday’s GTGFTS? I am stumped. Thinking some kind of exhibition or all star game?
Somebody did, it was a Yankees-Athletics game in Philadelphia in 1953.
I see it now. Didn’t realize they were showing the out of town line scores right there with the actual game’s line.
The late 80’s Elway-era uni is the only way to go here for the Broncos. Perhaps add a royal blue alternate top w/ orange pants to spice things up. They had such a good look (with plenty of “story-telling if they must) in the “orange crush,” but now they appear to be the Oregon Ducks of the NFL. Just stop…too much!
The white helmet didn’t look good with the mono blue below the neck. I usually prefer the helmet color matching the pants, so yes this would look really good with white pants, and especially if they would pair it with blue socks.
I’m wondering if the helmet colors played a role in the egregious missed facemask penalty in that game. Maybe white with a white mask and white logo obscures the turn of the head from the referee’s viewpoint?
The similarly egregious miss on Sam Darnold earlier this year was a purple helmet with black mask but with a large white logo. That one was behind the LOS and the responsibility for the call fell to a referee with no angle to see it. For Denver it was down field a bit and still nobody from the sidelines saw the head twist. Odd.
It’d definitely be greatly improved with white pants. OR an orange helmet, but unfortunately I assume they’ll need to ride out the white helmets for a few years before they can do that.
The fact that the sleeves have to tell a story of the sun setting behind the mountains is enough for me to say pass.
The white helmet for Denver looks juvenile/collegiate. They look like Illinois or Auburn, but worse given the mono blue outfit. While this whole redesign was a massive missed opportunity to go back to the Orange Crush era uniforms full time, I am ok with a navy alternate given the direction they went. I just don’t think a white helmet was necessary. It looks very cheap, similar to the Jags white helmet.
These really do not deserve this level of attention
With any luck, they last as long as recent Browns, Lions, and Jets uniform updates that were quickly jettisoned.
I expected to not like this new set as I am a fan of the Nike tapered stripe set and don’t like the colors of the prior set. But actually seeing it on the field, I actually think it’s an improvement in that it’s easier for them to change color sets and it works, whereas the tapered stripe didn’t always pair well when they switched up the top colors. All the little elements are a wash, but they don’t take anything away for me. I also find the white helmet to be pointless if it has it’s own stripe that doesn’t look good on it’s own.
I feel that the throwback “D” white helmet from 2023 would be a better fit with the current uniform combination than the existing white helmet.
The blue jersey with white pants (and white helmet and blue socks) you alluded to at the end with the untucked shirt looks like an option – see the far right of the team photo you posted with all of the options.
It’s definitely an option. They just chose not to wear it.
Since this will be the only time the white hat and blue jersey are worn this season, it’s something we have to hope for as an option next season and beyond.
When I tuned into the Broncos game at first sight, I thought it was the Chargers. I had to do a double take.
I like the Navy jersey, the white helmet is just unnecessary. It’s not a terrible helmet, but like the Jags it just doesn’t make sense with the alternate. I think Navy/Navy/White would be a good look and be a nod to the 90s super bowl teams. I like the throwback as a throwback for 2 games a year. Now that we’re at 17 games I’d like to see the NFL bump alternates to 4 games a year.
The white/blue/blue/blue reminds me of the old chargers uniforms, Denver needs to stick to the orange and light blue.
If the sunset/mountain storytelling of the zig zag shoulder stripe only works on the blue jersey, that is a design failure.
Monday night was the worst possible look for Denver’s new set. I can’t wait for them to dump these turds in four years.
Only way a white helmet works is with a white jersey….period.
In your comment, I counted four plus one periods and the word period spelled out.
Wrote I kick the white helmet to the curb I’d like to see it with a gray, blue, or even orange face mask.
As with the entire new set, I loved this look and I love it more each week that they win in it. I was lukewarm on the last set (the parenthesis look) until they won a Super Bowl in it and now it brings back fond memories. Bottom line, keep winning and the more I love it.
Imo this is an improvement over the usual Broncos helmet, which belongs to the unfortunate mini-trend of bellicose helmets/logos (see also the Jags, Panthers and Bucs). The white tames the beast and makes it a bit less cringe.
Also, while the white helmet is risky with the blue mono jersey and pants, the white shoes balance out the color scheme, and the white numbers and leg stripes are a good bridge between the head and feet. Solid fit overall.
Let’s see the white helmet with navy stripes and orange jersey combo and white pants.
Never wear a white helmet with a mono look. It reminds me of a zit about to pop. The navy jersey is allright but it suffers from all the incoherent details described by others. It is the first time I see the intended peak and sunset behind it on the sleeve (which I like) but it is not in line with how players wear jereseys these days and becomes a crumpled mess.
The sleeve caps look great when they’re in the proper orange/white/blue orientation. They honestly should edit the sleeves on the white and orange unis to match.