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2007 NFL uniforms thread

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by writing irish, Sep 4, 2007.

  1. writing irish

    writing irish Active Member

    The lively debate on the NFL shield thread has inspired me. Time for the 07 NFL unis thread. I had a thread like this for the NHL last year and caught shit for comparing the Hurricanes’ numbers to those of auto racing…and Beef corrected me when I got Edmonton’s colors wrong. We’ll see how well- or poorly-received the following will be. My general philosophy on uniforms is that tradition is good, but change is welcome if it’s an improvement. I think football unis are going through a bad phase right now- kind of like baseball unis in the 70s- trying to be too futuristic. There’ll probably be a retro backlash in the 10s. Anyway:

    AFC East
    Buffalo: Ugly. The red helmets are synonymous with Super Bowl choking, so they may as well go back to the white. The two shades of blue don’t work well and the all-navy version is a disaster. Grade: C.
    Miami: The new dolphin logo is a step up, but the addition of royal blue to the color scheme wasn’t necessary. Still, as long as they stay away from the all-aqua version and the orange jersey absurdity, it’s a good look…very South Florida. Grade: B+
    New England: It’s Flying Elvis, a.k.a. Patrick Henry the Tadpole. Dumb logo, but it’s associated with success, as opposed to Pat the Patriot. Still, the Pats looked better when red was the primary color. Why the silver? Grade: B.
    New York Jets: It’s easy to look kind of goofy in green, but the Jets manage to pull it off. It’s been almost four decades since SBIII, but the mystique remains…in the unis, if not the team. Grade: A-.
    AFC North
    Baltimore: Purple and black. Sigh. Grade: C.
    Cincinnati: The helmet design was innovative, but extending the concept to the pants and jerseys was a bad idea. Arena-league bullshit. Grade: C-.
    Cleveland: Well, orange and brown isn’t the greatest color combination, but the return to the old 1960s sleeve stripes and gray facemask brings back memories of Jim Brown. Grade: B+.
    Pittsburgh: Pure football, these duds. The change to sans-serif numbers was a bit odd, but a Lombardi Trophy in the new unis lends some legitimacy. Grade: A-.
    AFC South
    Houston: Maybe the Texas-flag colors and bull’s-head logo are a bit predictable, but it works. Simple, yet bold. The Texans suck, but they look good. Grade: B+
    Indianapolis: There’s a reason the Colts’ unis haven’t changed for decades. They don’t need to. Grade: A.
    Jacksonville: Hey Jags- the 1990s called. They want their teal and black back. Grade: C+.
    Tennessee: Hail the Flaming Thumbtacks! Arena-league charmions! There’s potential with the color scheme, but the design itself isn’t getting it done. Grade: B-.
    AFC West
    Denver: The poster children for over-innovative uniform design. Corporate-esque logo, side panels, freaky pant stripes, the works. Plus, they ditched their signature orange jerseys. Grade: C.
    Kansas City: On the other end of the spectrum, the Chiefs. Primary red and primary yellow, more or less unchanged since Len Dawson. A classic look, even if it’s not the most stylish. Grade: B+.
    Oakland: Hate ’em or love ’em, they look bad-ass. Grade: A.
    San Diego: In this case, the two shades of blue work great. Nice balance of subtlety and flash. Grade: A.

    NFC East
    Dallas: The Cowboys need to go back to the silver-gray-blue pants for both home and road. The new silver-blue-green home pants look weird. The blue-jersey ensemble, with platinum-colored pants, actually looks ok, despite the blue-jersey “curse.” Strange how some teams will still wear their road unis at home to make the Cowboys wear blue. Best helmets in the league. Grade: A-.
    New York Giants: From the light-gray pants to the blue-themed home threads and red-themed road gear, the Giants look great. Grade: A.
    Philadelphia: What the hell do you call that shade of green? Brackish Atlantic? And why all the black? Sorry, Iggles. Grade: C+.
    Washington: In music, there’s Iron and Wine. In football, there’s Piss and Wine. Not to mention an offensive nickname. Grade: C+.
    NFC North
    Chicago: As long as the orange jerseys don’t see the light of day, it’s all good. Grade: A.
    Detroit: The Lions looked fine without the black trim, but really, the black accents don’t look bad. The Lions have more pressing issues than black trim on their unis. The shade of blue- darker than sky but lighter than primary- is cool. Grade: A-.
    Green Bay: Here’s a case where tradition goes a long way in making a slightly blinding ensemble into a classic. Yeah, that yellow’s pretty fucking ugly, but oh well. Grade: A-.
    Minnesota: Purple is a bad place to start. The helmet decal was pretty innovative for 1961, though. The new jerseys and pants look kind of goofy. Grade: B.
    NFC South
    Atlanta: Lest some think I’m against all innovation, I dig the new falcon logo. It’s cool. The jersey/pants design is a bit too trendy, however. Grade: B+.
    Carolina: Man, those Duke, NCSU and Wake fans must hate the inclusion of Tar Heel blue. Yeah, the look is a bit Raiders-meets-Heels. But it still works. Grade: A-.
    New Orleans: Gold and black. The Fluer-de-Lis. Cool. The Saints used to use a richer, darker shade of gold that looked better, but that’s just nit-picking. Grade: A.
    Tampa Bay: Is it gray? Bronze? Silver? Gold? No, it’s pewter. Well, ok. At least there’s no rump-riding pirate from Key West on the helmets. Grade: B+.
    NFC West
    Arizona: Now, with a meaner-looking bird head! Good color scheme, but the arena-esqe pants and jerseys are regrettable. Grade: B+.
    St. Louis: As hard as it is for me to get used to the Rams playing in a dome in St. Louis, I must admit, the unis are cool. The numbers are a little wonky, but no big deal. Grade: A-.
    San Francisco: You’d think they were a baseball team, with the black trim and that trendy brick-red color. But it actually looks good and still maintains ties with tradition. Grade: A-.
    Seattle: What a shame they went with the all-blue monstrosity in their Super Bowl, because their threads are actually pretty cool as long as they avoid that particular combo. Seattle also has a new, meaner-looking bird head! Grade: B+.
     
  2. mike311gd

    mike311gd Active Member

  3. Not a bad list, but I don't know how the hell you give the Steelers an A- when you give the Colts, Giants and Chiefs straight As. The Giants? Seriously?

    And you really think the Steelers uniforms are on par with the Lions and Panthers?

    FYI, I'm an Eagles fan so no homerism here. But the Steelers uniforms are in the top 2 or 3.
     
  4. 1. Oakland
    2. Pittsburgh
    3. New Orleans
    4. Philly (Phanboy looser)
     
  5. pallister

    pallister Guest

    I was thinking the same thing today, as well as thinking that all forms of orange uniforms should be outlawed.
     
  6. writing irish

    writing irish Active Member

    I hate the Giants, but I think the unis look very good.

    Chiefs got a B+. The Steelers use an ugly-assed shade of yellow, but earn an A- just because, as I said, their look is pure football.

    Any Pittsburgh fanboys want to chime in with the anecdote as to why the logo's only on one side of the helmet?
     
  7. Hustle

    Hustle Guest

    What does the Redskins' nickname have to do with their unis? You seem to go for the simplistic look, which they have. In their home whites, the only adornment is a maroon/gold stripe on the sleeve. (Yes, the throwbacks from a few years ago with the FSU spear on the sleeves were ugly. Thankfully, they're history.)

    And, since you asked, it's midnight green for the Iggles.
     
  8. writing irish

    writing irish Active Member

    Hustle- guilty as charged. I'm so phobic about the Redskins, it's hard for me to be objective about them. I should have just given them an "I" for incomplete, as I shouldn't be trusted to grade 'em objectively.

    I hate their nickname and no, that doesn't have anything to do with their uniforms. Of course, there's a Native American on their helmets, but at least it's dignified- unlike Chief Wahoo.
     
  9. Bubbler

    Bubbler Well-Known Member

    The Bills uni's truly do suck. I hate them. And I'm glad the Vikings have uniforms that match my dislike for them in general. Why did they mess with what they had?

    And the Buccaneers? They're weird. At first I liked their pewter-and-reds, but now I'm kind of thinking they look a used tampon from the Bronze Age, so I'm coming around to the opinion that the orange (fuck all the orange-haters) needs to make a comeback.

    I like it when the Bears wear all-white on the road. I've never been a fan of the blue pants.

    I agree that the Cowboys need to go back to their 70s blue pants. I also think they should go back to their basic 70s blue jerseys, though they wear blue so infrequently.

    On another, retro old-man rant, I'd like to see the Dolphins go back to their heyday uni's and I'd like to see the Eagles wear green instead of that fucked up greenish jersey they've had since the mid 90s.
     
  10. writing irish

    writing irish Active Member

    I remember once when the Bucs were on TV back in 98...I was in a bar with my girlfriend at the time. The pewter pants were showing up as kind of a brownish color on that bar's TV set. With the red stripe down the side, my girlfriend said, "They look like bloody stools." She was a nurse.
     
  11. MileHigh

    MileHigh Moderator Staff Member

    I hate the Colts but LOVE their unis.
    Steelers a close second. Bears right there.
    I'm a sucker for the old-school look (like the NFL logo; just leave it alone, though it's not the end of the world, but still ...).

    As a Broncos fanboy for 30-plus years, I HATE their unis, despite the two Super Bowls. Ditching the orange homes and the snorting horse in the D was a bad move. A C is too generous.
     
  12. Bubbler

    Bubbler Well-Known Member

    The Colts made a subtle change in their uni's a couple of years ago by darkening the blue slightly, a la, their Baltimore days. I like the Colts' home uni's, their roads have never done it for me, though.

    And hell yes Denver needs to go back to its orange crush uni's.

    I'm also in a severe minority in that I liked the Jets' green helmet uni's, the ones they wore in the Wesley Walker Shea days of the late 70s/early 80s.

    Yeah ... I'm old as fuck.
     
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