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A previously announced rule change will also permit all teams to have a total of three shells per team. It’s likely that some teams will add a third helmet — for some it will be another color shell to add to the “closet,” but there may be some teams who will use the third (or second, if they only have one) shell to create new throwbacks. Instead of (re)opening Pandora’s box to allow for all sorts of possible crazy combos, as they may have done, perhaps the NFL might do well to consider another leaguewide throwback series. So far, we’ve had two — in 1994, in celebration of their 75th Anniversary, the NFL encouraged all teams to create some form of throwback to wear during the season. Then, in 2009, the eight original AFL franchises all wore both home and road throwbacks for several games during the 60th AFL Season celebration. It’s been more than 15 years since we got throwback games (not counting a few that have occurred on Thanksgiving in the years since), and as of last season 20 of the 32 NFL teams have throwbacks. It’s possible we’ll have even more in 2025.
Denver Broncos President Damani Leech was asked at the NFL’s Annual League Meeting in Florida on Monday — at which he broke the news that teams would be permitted to wear alternates four times a season — whether he would support adding a road throwback uniform to the NFL’s permitted rotation. That would require a 5th jersey for many teams, something which is not currently allowed.
“Yes, [but] I’m just happy we got the vote we just got,” Leech said. “I’ll take that win for now. Maybe in the future we’ll get a little bit more flexibility.”
So with at least one of the teams in support of adding road throwbacks, and likely others on board, I think it’s time for the NFL to seriously consider either another league-wide throwback series, like 1994 and 2009, or at the very least, have all teams playing on Thursday Night Football in throwbacks. I’m am certainly not the first to suggest “Throwback Thursdays,” but I’ll add my voice to the chorus who would love TTNF — “Throwback Thursday Night Football.”
Honestly I’d prefer the NFL to do a leaguewide throwback a la 1994 or 2009. Let’s review those now.
__________
In 1994, the NFL consisted of 28 teams, and the league encouraged all teams to create some form of throwback to wear during the season. Some teams embraced the concept and truly sought to bring the throwback to the viewer, while other teams really half-assed it, and a few basically ignored the whole throwback concept completely (although in some cases that was due to their original uniforms having changed little over the years, rendering a throwback irrelevant).
__________
BEARS
__________
BENGALS
__________
BILLS
__________
BRONCOS
__________
BROWNS
The Browns didn’t even try to create a throwback in 1994.
__________
BUCCANEERS
Like the Seahawks (who we’ll look at below), the Buccaneers really hadn’t changed their uniforms (much) since their inception, so the team didn’t really have anything to throw back to.
__________
CARDINALS
__________
CHARGERS
_________
KANSAS CITY
Like the Browns, Kansas City basically refused to play along with the 1994 throwback initiative.
__________
COLTS
While their uniforms hadn’t changed that much since their introduction, the Colts basically said, “nah, we’re good” to the 1994 throwback program.
__________
COWBOYS
__________
DOLPHINS
__________
EAGLES
__________
FALCONS
__________
49ERS
__________
GIANTS
__________
JETS
__________
LIONS
__________
OILERS
__________
PACKERS
__________
PATRIOTS
__________
RAIDERS
__________
RAMS
__________
WASHINGTON
__________
SAINTS
_________
SEAHAWKS
Like the Buccaneers (above), the Seahawks were really still wearing their “original” uniforms in 1994 — one of the few changes involved placing the seahawk logo on the sleeve, so for their “throwbacks” they removed the logo.
__________
STEELERS
__________
VIKINGS
The Vikes faced a situation similar to the Colts — their uniforms hadn’t really changed much throughout their history to that point — so they’d be forgiven if their throwbacks were almost identical to their regular uniforms.
• • • • •
By the time 2009 rolled around, throwbacks had attained greater prominence, and much more attention to historical accuracy was paid. It’s safe to say that in the 15 years between the two, the 2009 uniforms were nearly perfect. Here’s a look at those. While the Dallas Cowboys weren’t part of the AFL, they did begin play in 1960 and wore a throwback that season as well.
BUFFALO BILLS
Home (blue):
Road (white):
__________
DENVER BRONCOS
Home (gold):
Road (white):
__________
KANSAS CITY (Playing as the DALLAS TEXANS)
Home (red):
Road (white):
__________
DALLAS COWBOYS
Home (blue):
__________
NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS (Playing as BOSTON PATRIOTS)
Home (Red):
Road (White):
__________
NEW YORK JETS (Playing as the TITANS OF NEW YORK)
Home (blue):
Road (white):
__________
OAKLAND RAIDERS
Home (black):
Road (white):
__________
SAN DIEGO CHARGERS
Home (blue):
Road (white):
__________
TENNESSEE TITANS (Playing as HOUSTON OILERS)
Home (blue):
Road (white):
• • • • •
The NFL probably could manage to do 10 or 11 “Throwback Thursday” games right now (some of them would need to be color vs. color, but if scheduled properly, those could certainly work), but why not add a little excitement to TNF by making those games throwbacks? Of course, reintroducing a leaguewide throwback like 1994 or partial league (2009), and giving teams their choice of throwbacks would be even better. At the very least, the NFL should consider an exemption to the 4-jersey rule by allowing teams who currently have throwbacks a white jersey exemption as the Broncos have proffered. That could also facilitate throwback vs. throwback games.
What do you guys think? Is it time for another leaguewide throwback or at the very least, TTNF? Giving teams who already have a throwback an option to add an additional jersey (without exceeding the four jersey rule) is also well worth considering. Would you support that?
Love to have your thoughts on this.
My Guest Appearance on The Al Galdi Podcast
On Monday, I spoke with Al Galdi, who is a longtime DC sports personality, to discuss my thoughts on the Commanders uniforms and the possibility of the team getting new uniforms for 2025.
My time starts at about 17:00 and we spoke for about 20 minutes.
Uniform Concepts and Tweaks (Revisited)
Time for more Uni Tweaks from the UW readership — only this one is a bit of a throwback.
In February of 2021, Alan Filipczak sent the following:
• • • • •
Hi Phil,
Hope this finds you well. I have something for the weekend Uni Concepts section.
As part of the recent evisceration restructuring of the minor leagues, the Quad Cities River Bandits are now the High-A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals. The River Bandits have seemingly tweaked their color scheme to match their new parent club.
This change inspired me to carry on the age-old tradition of altering a major league logo to match a minor league affiliate. Using my Microsoft Paint “skills,” I changed KC to QC and swapped out the crown top for a crude rendering of the Rock Island Centennial Bridge, the iconic backdrop of Modern Woodmen Park in Davenport, Iowa.
Thank you and be well!
Al
• • • • •
Earlier this week, Alan followed up with the following:
Phil!
I saw this article and knew it was familiar. I’m glad to see that someone else had the same idea, only 4+ years later! The only major difference is that I put the bridge on top of the letters in place of the crown. I’m pretty sure you posted this concept on the blog but I can’t find it.
Hope you are well
Alan
Thanks Alan — and how cool is it to see a concept you had more than four years ago actually make (mostly) it on the field! Appreciate the follow up and great to hear from you.
Guess the Game from the Scoreboard
Guess The Game…
…From The Scoreboard
Today’s scoreboard comes from Mark Lee.
The premise of the game (GTGFTS) is simple: I’ll post a scoreboard and you guys simply identify the game depicted. In the past, I don’t know if I’ve ever completely stumped you (some are easier than others).
Here’s the Scoreboard. In the comments below, try to identify the game (date and location, as well as final score). If anything noteworthy occurred during the game, please add that in (and if you were AT the game, well bonus points for you!):
Please continue sending these in! You’re welcome to send me any scoreboard photos (with answers please), and I’ll keep running them.
Guess the Game from the Uniform
Based on the suggestion of long-time reader/contributor Jimmy Corcoran, we’ve introduced a new “game” on Uni Watch, which is similar to the popular “Guess the Game from the Scoreboard” (GTGFTS), only this one asked readers to identify the game based on the uniforms worn by teams.
Like GTGFTS, readers will be asked to guess the date, location and final score of the game from the clues provided in the photo. Sometimes the game should be somewhat easy to ascertain, while in other instances, it might be quite difficult. There will usually be a visual clue (something odd or unique to one or both of the uniforms) that will make a positive identification of one and only one game possible. Other times, there may be something significant about the game in question, like the last time a particular uniform was ever worn (one of Jimmy’s original suggestions). It’s up to YOU to figure out the game and date.
Today’s GTGFTU comes from Grace McDonald.
Good luck and please post your guess/answer in the comments below.
And finally...
…that’ll do it for the early article.
Don’t forget, in case you missed it, our Founder Paul Lukas is offering up several pieces of UW merch, including some rare and one-of-a-kind items. If you’re looking for a specific item you may have missed or you just want to add to your collection, then you’re in luck!
I should have a couple more articles for you today, including Susan’s Ticker. I’m hearing the San Francisco Giants might be officially unveiling their City Connect today, and if the leaks are indeed correct, it follows they might unveil it today, since it would be the uni equivalent of a Friday news dump. If they do — depending upon what time of day — I’ll try to cover it but it may fall to Anthony. The Giants are scheduled to debut the new uniforms this coming Tuesday, so we should expect them to be released soon!
Everyone have a good Friday and a better weekend. Anthony will take you through the weekend, and I’ll see ya right back here on Monday morning.
Throwback Thursday would be incredible! The only downside is some of those unis would just look better in the daylight.
Looking back at the 2009 season, just about all those throwbacks looked great. I would hope a move like we’re discussing would just go back to these styles and not try to throwback to some other time, because it would be hard to improve on these.
I think it’d be cool to just to take two weekends and half the league throwback and then do it for the other half another weekend so people have a chance to flip around and take it in. Lord knows old schoolers would salivate over all these.
Yes! At the very least they should have a league-wide throwback weekend, where every team wears a uniform from their past. Bonus points if they can coordinate it so that they teams playing have era-appropriate matchups (or as close to it as they can get). And these uniforms be completely exempt from the normal rules.
The same should also be done in the NBA, NHL, and MLB, although with many more games in their respective leagues, perhaps they could sprinkle in various throwback nights throughout the season.
I would even go so far as saying the Premier League should think about it. I know that would likely invite derision from traditional soccer fans moaning about the “Americanisation” of soccer, but I actually first heard the idea from Don Hutchison, a fairly prominent player who represented Scotland, Liverpool, Everton, West Ham, and some other clubs. He suggested doing a retro weekend and then auctioning the kits off, with proceeds going to charity. Sounds like a win-win-win scenario to me.
“The same should also be done in the NBA, NHL, and MLB”
Count CFL in there, too. They did the fabulous league-wide 1960s throwbacks in 2009 and 1970s throwbacks in 2010. Years have passed since then. I have been vocal about it being time now for the 1980s CFL throwbacks in a season. The 1980s a great era for great uniforms in the CFL.
I have an insane idea for the CFL, that would never in a million years happen even in the best of times: throwing back to the American experiment.
For the Als, there was only one choice, given the franchise ties. For the rest, I tried to get as close colour-wise for some of the teams, with the rest being leftovers, and as there were just seven US cities to host CFL teams that actually played, I decided to do something different for Toronto and Ottawa, keeping them contemporary with the others:
Montreal Alouettes – Baltimore Stallions (naturally) link
Hamilton Tiger-Cats – Las Vegas Posse link
Saskatchewan Roughriders – Memphis Mad Dogs link
Winnipeg Blue Bombers – Shreveport Pirates link
Edmonton Elks – Sacramento Gold Miners link
BC Lions – Birmingham Barracudas link
Calgary Stampeders – San Antonio Texans link
Toronto Argonauts – 1995 Toronto Argonauts link
Ottawa RedBlacks – 1994 Ottawa Rough Riders link
The 1995 Argos should be obvious – those gloriously insane sublimated-print jerseys with the giant logo. I picked the 1994 Rough Riders over the 1995 version so as to include the red pants option.
The U.S. experiment was a fun footnote in history now when we look back at it. During the time it was happening, I didn’t think as fondly about it. Every U.S. franchise had entertaining, quirky details around them in their short period. So much so that it warranted a book about them by Ed Willes which is a great read.
The uniforms weren’t bad but we don’t need to see them on the field again.
However, if the CFL would just do like they did in 2009 and 2010 but with 1980s throwbacks. All 9 teams in their 1985 uniforms would do the trick. I am begging to see what a lot of the teams wore in 1985 on the field again.
Very Yes to your idea for the Premier League, well, basically for every pro football league in Europe with the shirts being auctioned off to charity. There are so many beautiful football shirts that deserve to be worn again for a good cause. UEFA should step forward and establish one or two rounds of competititon where every team (home or away) wears a throwback/ retro kit for charity.
I know the Eredivisie has plenty of fantastic retro kits!
My only issue would be UEFA getting involved. They already have their fingers in too many pies, and they always find a way to overdo it when it comes to arbitrary rules about kits. There are many retro shirts that wouldn’t be allowed under modern UEFA rules, such as the ones that feature the very 90s all-over sublimations of team badges, as well as many that would have to be altered because of silly UEFA rules regarding number visibility (think those awful boxes that teams like Celtic, AC Milan, Newcastle, etc. have to put on the back of their shirts in European competitions).
I’ll never get over just how bizarre the 1994 Bills’ “throwbacks” are. The stripes are absolutely nothing like the intricate stripes they wore from 1964 through 1974; granted, with the shorter sleeves, they would’ve had to move the numbers up to the shoulders, as they did for the throwbacks worn from 2005 through 2010. The stripes do have the same color pattern as the UCLA loops the Bills wore in 1962 and 1963, but of course, those were over the shoulder, and these were at the bottom of the sleeves. And that’s not even going into the fact that they were either too cheap or too lazy to get a set of white helmets for the throwbacks, and didn’t even bother to change the stripes!
Very odd how Jets did same thing with their helmets like Bills, using the current color at the time and sticking throwback logos/ and inverse stripes. I would suspect since its the last year of old stadium in Buffalo you may see the standing Buffalo multiple as it was the original helmet warn in 73 when the stadium opened. Love to see both blue and white throwbacks to close it out at some point.
I like this idea but also think it’s stupid they didn’t do it years ago for their 100th anniversary or 100th season whichever it was.
The Broncos yellow and brown is so ugly it crosses over into beautiful, I love it and they should bring it back.
Two things they whiffed on during the 100th anniversary: they didn’t do throwbacks, and they didn’t tweak the 50th anniversary patch to say 100 at the top. Chris Creamer over at SportsLogos had the same idea, and his concept looked so much better than what the league used. link
Padres, Wyoming, throwback Broncos.
It doesn’t make sense, but something about brown and gold just work.
Underrated combo I hated as a kid, enjoy seeing today.
On a side note, I have never been able to find the clip from SportsCenter from 1994 where Keith Olbermann and Dan Patrick review the NFL throwbacks. I have a strong memory of Keith complaining about the thin black outlines on the Raiders’ white throwbacks – “I CAN’T SEE THE NUMBERS!”
Alan, your original Quad Cities logo was incredible, and how cool must it have been to see the team confirm your good taste. I’ve long hoped the pros (and colleges) thought my ideas were good enough to steal.
Alan, I lived 4 years in the Quad Cities and went to many games at John O’Donnell Stadium. I can’t imagine a better looking design than what you provided. It gave me goosebumps remembering the times I spent there, especially all the times my dad took my brothers and I to see his buddies on the Palmer College baseball team play…and how they’d pull him into umpire games against other schools and the casual way he would sneak drinking beers between innings. Good times.
Sans the boring text helmets, those old Bengals uniforms did not look terrible. The old AFC central battles never looked bad no matter who was playing – and that era Cincy always gave prime-era Pittsburgh fits! The Bengals Browns matchups were wild as at times on old TVs it was hard to tell who was who.
I would love to see an AFL Throwback weekend with Miami and Cincinnati getting to participate this time. It wouldn’t be hard to do given the entire AFC East and West would be involved along with Cincy and Tennessee.
Would love to see the NFL do throwbacks leaguewide again. Only a handful of teams would be unable to participate from either lack of uniform changes throughout the years, or in Houston’s case, almost no uniform changes + Titans holding the Oilers’ rights.
Also I adore the River Bandits’ concept logo. I’m going to a game later this month and I have to say it’s the most beautiful scenery for a game I’ve been to. Some of the best scenery in all of baseball. I will be getting the cap with the new logo.
The Buccaneers 1976 white jerseys (the only ones they wore in the regular season that year) featured orange numbers with a red outline, and then in 1977 they flipped the colors around for the rest of the Creamsicle Era. So they did have something they could have thrown back to, but chose not to.
Love the idea of Thursday Throwbacks or a league wide celebration weekend. But . . .
What about the elephant in the room: Washington? When you put your personal feelings about their imagery aside, Washington had some really nice unis over the years prior to their name change.
Also, what about Baltimore, Carolina and Houston? Aside from Baltimore’s number font change, not much has changed with any of those unis since their inceptions. Luckily, Jacksonville has trotted out enough bad unis over the years that the return of their “Brunell era” jerseys last season were a welcomed site.
The skins’ 2012 throwback (based on 1937 I believe), complete with the faux-leather helmet, would only need minor alterations to be current year compliant. I don’t think they would do anything based on the 1970s-2019 set because that is too radioactive, but an older throwback with whatever modifications necessary would be “fine.”
Just throw back to pre-60s Washington. Either plain burgundy or plain gold helmets, depending on the year.
Colts have thrown back to their helmets (both white and blue) with smaller horseshoes on the back. They could also bring back their red clash jersey they wore during their first few seasons. Or…they could throw back to the AAFC Colts who wore green. That would be timely, since the NFL just announced that they’re formally recognizing the AAFC records and incorporating them into NFL history.
Nice work Phil, 1994 was my favorite season because I got to see uniforms I saw as a kid. I remember the Giants had really nice durene throwback jerseys made by Jerry Cosby and I thought the teams that used Russell Athletic jerseys like the Falcons and Chargers looked outstanding. The number fonts Russell used looked similar to the Sand Knit fonts that made many of those original team’s jerseys. Though the jerseys looked good from Champion that 1994 season, their fonts were off because they used their standard Champion fonts instead of the style that the teams wore back then.
Being originally from the Quad Cities, I immediately recognized the Centennial Bridge on the concept logo for the River Bandits. I think it is something that definitely would be great for a “rebranding” now that they are affiliated with the Royals. Wonder if there could be a concept for Modern Woodman Park being flooded by the Mississippi River? IYKYK……. LOL
Gosh I just love those 1994 Broncos throwback jerseys. Yeah the helmet logo is goofy-looking, but the jerseys are just so good looking. Sneakily some of the best jerseys in Broncos history, just held back by the subpar helmet.
Actually KC did do a throwback for 1994 – they used the 1963 first season in KC look that didn’t have the striped cuffs on the sleeves, and they used red socks with thinner stripes with the both red and white jerseys. However they didn’t do the larger logo and gray facemasks to be more accurate, and the red was probably should have been a little bit darker to match the 1963 uniforms.
I wasn’t living in KC yet, but I did notice it back in 1994.
I enjoyed your appearance on Galdi’s podcast, Phil. He’s a guy I really respect and that I’ve listened to on and off over the years, so it was definitely a “world’s are colliding!” moment for me.
NFL should have two throwback weekends so that every team could wear a home and away uniform. That and Throwback Thursday Night Football would be great
Adding a fifth jersey in a league that plays only 17 games seems a bit much don’t you think? I get the allure, I love a good throwback, but at a certain point it feels quite overdone.
I love uniforms, and I love uniwatch, but it’s starting to feel like a churn of uniforms instead of well thought out and meaningful designs. Turn on the TV and you have no idea who is playing – it says something different on the uniform!!
It’s sacrilege to say so here, but too much of a good thing can exist: there are too many uniforms for teams now.
Thanks for the feedback, Roland. I’m wont to agree with all your points. I didn’t say it in the article, but I’d prefer it if teams were kept to a home, road and one alt (but all kinds of mixing and matching, if teams so choose, to create many combos). The other alt would be a throwback. Maybe not all teams would need a fifth (usually white) throwback jersey, but for those few teams who don’t have an alt, they could designate both alt spots for throwbacks (kinda like the Dolphins and 49ers already do).
That would be my preference, but it look likes the league (or Nike) is doing everything to encourage more uniform parts. Maybe not more jerseys, but over the past decade about half the league have added additional pants and socks as options (some with two additional sets of pants), and now the NFL will permit all teams to have 3 shells.
Teams have the ability to do what they want with their 3rd and 4th jerseys — I just wish for one season the NFL could see it to make every team play one home and one road throwback game — or at the very least, have every TNF be TTNF.
I’ll say no, some of these throwbacks were just no good and terrible and should never see the light again. Some teams needed their throwbacks to replace their current trash uniforms. I think they could’ve done this during the NFL 100th anniversary a few years ago, but not every season. Maybe they can do it for the AFL Teams when the 100th anniversary season comes in 2034, I believe.
Definitely in favor of home-and-road throwbacks being uniform ## 4 & 5, or both counting as #4. Also in favor of Throwback Thursday Night Football.
Same here, good idea!
Throwback Thursday would be incredible! The only downside is some of those unis would just look better in the daylight.
Looking back at the 2009 season, just about all those throwbacks looked great. I would hope a move like we’re discussing would just go back to these styles and not try to throwback to some other time, because it would be hard to improve on these.
I think it’d be cool to just to take two weekends and half the league throwback and then do it for the other half another weekend so people have a chance to flip around and take it in. Lord knows old schoolers would salivate over all these.
Yes! At the very least they should have a league-wide throwback weekend, where every team wears a uniform from their past. Bonus points if they can coordinate it so that they teams playing have era-appropriate matchups (or as close to it as they can get). And these uniforms be completely exempt from the normal rules.
The same should also be done in the NBA, NHL, and MLB, although with many more games in their respective leagues, perhaps they could sprinkle in various throwback nights throughout the season.
I would even go so far as saying the Premier League should think about it. I know that would likely invite derision from traditional soccer fans moaning about the “Americanisation” of soccer, but I actually first heard the idea from Don Hutchison, a fairly prominent player who represented Scotland, Liverpool, Everton, West Ham, and some other clubs. He suggested doing a retro weekend and then auctioning the kits off, with proceeds going to charity. Sounds like a win-win-win scenario to me.
“The same should also be done in the NBA, NHL, and MLB”
Count CFL in there, too. They did the fabulous league-wide 1960s throwbacks in 2009 and 1970s throwbacks in 2010. Years have passed since then. I have been vocal about it being time now for the 1980s CFL throwbacks in a season. The 1980s a great era for great uniforms in the CFL.
I have an insane idea for the CFL, that would never in a million years happen even in the best of times: throwing back to the American experiment.
For the Als, there was only one choice, given the franchise ties. For the rest, I tried to get as close colour-wise for some of the teams, with the rest being leftovers, and as there were just seven US cities to host CFL teams that actually played, I decided to do something different for Toronto and Ottawa, keeping them contemporary with the others:
Montreal Alouettes – Baltimore Stallions (naturally) link
Hamilton Tiger-Cats – Las Vegas Posse link
Saskatchewan Roughriders – Memphis Mad Dogs link
Winnipeg Blue Bombers – Shreveport Pirates link
Edmonton Elks – Sacramento Gold Miners link
BC Lions – Birmingham Barracudas link
Calgary Stampeders – San Antonio Texans link
Toronto Argonauts – 1995 Toronto Argonauts link
Ottawa RedBlacks – 1994 Ottawa Rough Riders link
The 1995 Argos should be obvious – those gloriously insane sublimated-print jerseys with the giant logo. I picked the 1994 Rough Riders over the 1995 version so as to include the red pants option.
The U.S. experiment was a fun footnote in history now when we look back at it. During the time it was happening, I didn’t think as fondly about it. Every U.S. franchise had entertaining, quirky details around them in their short period. So much so that it warranted a book about them by Ed Willes which is a great read.
The uniforms weren’t bad but we don’t need to see them on the field again.
However, if the CFL would just do like they did in 2009 and 2010 but with 1980s throwbacks. All 9 teams in their 1985 uniforms would do the trick. I am begging to see what a lot of the teams wore in 1985 on the field again.
Very Yes to your idea for the Premier League, well, basically for every pro football league in Europe with the shirts being auctioned off to charity. There are so many beautiful football shirts that deserve to be worn again for a good cause. UEFA should step forward and establish one or two rounds of competititon where every team (home or away) wears a throwback/ retro kit for charity.
I know the Eredivisie has plenty of fantastic retro kits!
My only issue would be UEFA getting involved. They already have their fingers in too many pies, and they always find a way to overdo it when it comes to arbitrary rules about kits. There are many retro shirts that wouldn’t be allowed under modern UEFA rules, such as the ones that feature the very 90s all-over sublimations of team badges, as well as many that would have to be altered because of silly UEFA rules regarding number visibility (think those awful boxes that teams like Celtic, AC Milan, Newcastle, etc. have to put on the back of their shirts in European competitions).
I’ll never get over just how bizarre the 1994 Bills’ “throwbacks” are. The stripes are absolutely nothing like the intricate stripes they wore from 1964 through 1974; granted, with the shorter sleeves, they would’ve had to move the numbers up to the shoulders, as they did for the throwbacks worn from 2005 through 2010. The stripes do have the same color pattern as the UCLA loops the Bills wore in 1962 and 1963, but of course, those were over the shoulder, and these were at the bottom of the sleeves. And that’s not even going into the fact that they were either too cheap or too lazy to get a set of white helmets for the throwbacks, and didn’t even bother to change the stripes!
Despite all of that, that’s my favorite Bills uniform.
Very odd how Jets did same thing with their helmets like Bills, using the current color at the time and sticking throwback logos/ and inverse stripes. I would suspect since its the last year of old stadium in Buffalo you may see the standing Buffalo multiple as it was the original helmet warn in 73 when the stadium opened. Love to see both blue and white throwbacks to close it out at some point.
I like this idea but also think it’s stupid they didn’t do it years ago for their 100th anniversary or 100th season whichever it was.
The Broncos yellow and brown is so ugly it crosses over into beautiful, I love it and they should bring it back.
Two things they whiffed on during the 100th anniversary: they didn’t do throwbacks, and they didn’t tweak the 50th anniversary patch to say 100 at the top. Chris Creamer over at SportsLogos had the same idea, and his concept looked so much better than what the league used.
link
Padres, Wyoming, throwback Broncos.
It doesn’t make sense, but something about brown and gold just work.
Underrated combo I hated as a kid, enjoy seeing today.
On a side note, I have never been able to find the clip from SportsCenter from 1994 where Keith Olbermann and Dan Patrick review the NFL throwbacks. I have a strong memory of Keith complaining about the thin black outlines on the Raiders’ white throwbacks – “I CAN’T SEE THE NUMBERS!”
Titans looked great for a change in those pics. They have a roadmap and some decent colors to work with.
Those Bears uniforms are still very awesome and I love the Chicago Cardinals throwbacks as well.
GTGFTU: 2020 Week 5, Vikings 26-27 Seahawks
Alan, your original Quad Cities logo was incredible, and how cool must it have been to see the team confirm your good taste. I’ve long hoped the pros (and colleges) thought my ideas were good enough to steal.
GTGFTU: 2019, Week 13, MNF. Seahawks beat the Vikings 37-30.
Notice the NFL 100 logo on the collars!
Alan, I lived 4 years in the Quad Cities and went to many games at John O’Donnell Stadium. I can’t imagine a better looking design than what you provided. It gave me goosebumps remembering the times I spent there, especially all the times my dad took my brothers and I to see his buddies on the Palmer College baseball team play…and how they’d pull him into umpire games against other schools and the casual way he would sneak drinking beers between innings. Good times.
Sans the boring text helmets, those old Bengals uniforms did not look terrible. The old AFC central battles never looked bad no matter who was playing – and that era Cincy always gave prime-era Pittsburgh fits! The Bengals Browns matchups were wild as at times on old TVs it was hard to tell who was who.
I would love to see an AFL Throwback weekend with Miami and Cincinnati getting to participate this time. It wouldn’t be hard to do given the entire AFC East and West would be involved along with Cincy and Tennessee.
Would love to see the NFL do throwbacks leaguewide again. Only a handful of teams would be unable to participate from either lack of uniform changes throughout the years, or in Houston’s case, almost no uniform changes + Titans holding the Oilers’ rights.
Also I adore the River Bandits’ concept logo. I’m going to a game later this month and I have to say it’s the most beautiful scenery for a game I’ve been to. Some of the best scenery in all of baseball. I will be getting the cap with the new logo.
The Buccaneers 1976 white jerseys (the only ones they wore in the regular season that year) featured orange numbers with a red outline, and then in 1977 they flipped the colors around for the rest of the Creamsicle Era. So they did have something they could have thrown back to, but chose not to.
Love the idea of Thursday Throwbacks or a league wide celebration weekend. But . . .
What about the elephant in the room: Washington? When you put your personal feelings about their imagery aside, Washington had some really nice unis over the years prior to their name change.
Also, what about Baltimore, Carolina and Houston? Aside from Baltimore’s number font change, not much has changed with any of those unis since their inceptions. Luckily, Jacksonville has trotted out enough bad unis over the years that the return of their “Brunell era” jerseys last season were a welcomed site.
The skins’ 2012 throwback (based on 1937 I believe), complete with the faux-leather helmet, would only need minor alterations to be current year compliant. I don’t think they would do anything based on the 1970s-2019 set because that is too radioactive, but an older throwback with whatever modifications necessary would be “fine.”
Just throw back to pre-60s Washington. Either plain burgundy or plain gold helmets, depending on the year.
Colts have thrown back to their helmets (both white and blue) with smaller horseshoes on the back. They could also bring back their red clash jersey they wore during their first few seasons. Or…they could throw back to the AAFC Colts who wore green. That would be timely, since the NFL just announced that they’re formally recognizing the AAFC records and incorporating them into NFL history.
Nice work Phil, 1994 was my favorite season because I got to see uniforms I saw as a kid. I remember the Giants had really nice durene throwback jerseys made by Jerry Cosby and I thought the teams that used Russell Athletic jerseys like the Falcons and Chargers looked outstanding. The number fonts Russell used looked similar to the Sand Knit fonts that made many of those original team’s jerseys. Though the jerseys looked good from Champion that 1994 season, their fonts were off because they used their standard Champion fonts instead of the style that the teams wore back then.
Being originally from the Quad Cities, I immediately recognized the Centennial Bridge on the concept logo for the River Bandits. I think it is something that definitely would be great for a “rebranding” now that they are affiliated with the Royals. Wonder if there could be a concept for Modern Woodman Park being flooded by the Mississippi River? IYKYK……. LOL
GTGFTS: April 18, 2015 – Cubs win 7-6 in 11 innings
Gosh I just love those 1994 Broncos throwback jerseys. Yeah the helmet logo is goofy-looking, but the jerseys are just so good looking. Sneakily some of the best jerseys in Broncos history, just held back by the subpar helmet.
Actually KC did do a throwback for 1994 – they used the 1963 first season in KC look that didn’t have the striped cuffs on the sleeves, and they used red socks with thinner stripes with the both red and white jerseys. However they didn’t do the larger logo and gray facemasks to be more accurate, and the red was probably should have been a little bit darker to match the 1963 uniforms.
I wasn’t living in KC yet, but I did notice it back in 1994.
Just make Thanksgiving week games a league wide throwback week.
I enjoyed your appearance on Galdi’s podcast, Phil. He’s a guy I really respect and that I’ve listened to on and off over the years, so it was definitely a “world’s are colliding!” moment for me.
The Falcons should obviously throw back to those red unis pictured above…and then conveniently keep wearing them.
Us uni-watchers can’t be alone in wanting Throwback Thursdays. It’s seems so obvious and the NFL cannot possibly pass up such a merchandising bonanza.
I’d like to see the Arizona Cardinals throwback be like their early Phoenix look with the Arizona flag on the sleeves.
NFL should have two throwback weekends so that every team could wear a home and away uniform. That and Throwback Thursday Night Football would be great
Adding a fifth jersey in a league that plays only 17 games seems a bit much don’t you think? I get the allure, I love a good throwback, but at a certain point it feels quite overdone.
I love uniforms, and I love uniwatch, but it’s starting to feel like a churn of uniforms instead of well thought out and meaningful designs. Turn on the TV and you have no idea who is playing – it says something different on the uniform!!
It’s sacrilege to say so here, but too much of a good thing can exist: there are too many uniforms for teams now.
Thanks for the feedback, Roland. I’m wont to agree with all your points. I didn’t say it in the article, but I’d prefer it if teams were kept to a home, road and one alt (but all kinds of mixing and matching, if teams so choose, to create many combos). The other alt would be a throwback. Maybe not all teams would need a fifth (usually white) throwback jersey, but for those few teams who don’t have an alt, they could designate both alt spots for throwbacks (kinda like the Dolphins and 49ers already do).
That would be my preference, but it look likes the league (or Nike) is doing everything to encourage more uniform parts. Maybe not more jerseys, but over the past decade about half the league have added additional pants and socks as options (some with two additional sets of pants), and now the NFL will permit all teams to have 3 shells.
Teams have the ability to do what they want with their 3rd and 4th jerseys — I just wish for one season the NFL could see it to make every team play one home and one road throwback game — or at the very least, have every TNF be TTNF.
I’ll say no, some of these throwbacks were just no good and terrible and should never see the light again. Some teams needed their throwbacks to replace their current trash uniforms. I think they could’ve done this during the NFL 100th anniversary a few years ago, but not every season. Maybe they can do it for the AFL Teams when the 100th anniversary season comes in 2034, I believe.
2060.