infrared41's Best and Worst - NFL Week 5

[infrared41]

Week five had a few good uniform match ups, a couple bad match ups, and one match up that managed to be a little bit of everything. So let's put 60 seconds on the clock and play our game. Do your best to ignore the pink, and as always, your mileage may vary.

Best:

1. Colts - Texans: It's a shame this one was played at night. Some sunshine would have really made this one pop. Great match up of classic and modern. Best helmet match up of the week.

2. 49ers - Giants: Two of the best looks in football. The only thing that kept this game out of the #1 spot was that I liked the Colts and Texans match up just a little bit better. But it was very close.

3. Bears - Chiefs: I know I'm in the minority, but I think the Bears would look better in all white on the road. I'm not saying the white over navy road look is bad, I like it just fine, I just think the Bears look "tougher" in all white. Still a great looking match up.

4. Patriots - Cowboys: New England has a solid look. It's not what I'd call great. but it's certainly good enough to make the best list. I'm done apologizing for liking the Cowboys uniforms. This was a good looking game.

Thanks for ruining a potentially great match up:

First place: Bills - Titans: Put the Titans in the light blue pants or their primary home uniform, or even all white, and this game is on the best list.

Second place: Saints - Eagles: The sooner the Saints put the black pants in a big pile and set them on fire, the better off we'll be.

Worst:

1. Jaguars - Buccaneers: Our worst nightmare. Clash of the worst uniforms in the NFL. The All Ugly Bowl, etc. I'd agree with any of those descriptions if it weren't for one minor thing - if the Jags had a normal helmet, I'd love this particular look. The only thing I have a real issue with is the stupid helmet. The rest of the uniform - as long as it's this combo - looks pretty damned good. But I can't overlook the helmet (believe me, I tried it last year and caught all sorts of hell.) The real problem with this game is Tampa Bay. There isn't one good thing about that uniform. It's as ugly as it is stupid - except that in the sun, matched up with these Jags uniforms, the Bucs colors don't look entirely awful. Still, there is way too much stupid going on here to put this game anywhere but #1 on the worst list - but there is some potential here.

2. Browns - Ravens: This one had every opportunity to stay off the worst list. The Ravens just needed to go purple over white. The Browns could have avoided their fifth straight appearance on this side of the ledger if they had just worn the white or orange pants. The Bucs may have the worst uniforms in the NFL, but my money is on the Ravens monochrome black for the straight up ugliest.

3. Seahawks - Bengals: Thankfully, the Bengals went with the best of nothing but bad choices. Seattle has so much Nike nonsense going on that I can't get past it. This game didn't look anywhere near as awful as I thought it would (bright sunshine can cure many ills) but it was still pretty bad.

That's it for this week. Thanks for dropping by.

[Jungle Jim]

Agree about the Saints and Ravens black pants and the Browns brown pants, but disagree about that being the Bengals least offensive look. They offend the least in all white, where the white side panels don't stick out like a sore thumb.

[ConcreteCharlie]

If I have to pick a combo from this bengals set, its black over white.

[dsaline97]

The only thing that kept this game out of the #1 spot was that I liked the Colts and Texans match up just a little bit better.

Gotta love your logic sometimes

Have the Bengals ever worn the orange socks with that helmet-jersey-pants combo? I think that would be a look worth trying.

[Sport]

The only thing that kept this game out of the #1 spot was that I liked the Colts and Texans match up just a little bit better.

Gotta love your logic sometimes

Have the Bengals ever worn the orange socks with that helmet-jersey-pants combo? I think that would be a look worth trying.

They have not, but this mannequin modeled it when Nike first took over the NFL.

[j'villejags]

I liked the Seattle/Cincinnati match-up -- unpopular opinion I suppose but I actually like Seattle's look. Their lime accents don't get much sunlight so that was nice to see. The contrast provided between these teams made for an aesthetically pleasing uniform match-up for me.

Jacksonville/Tampa Bay was as bad as expected. The pink accessories simply exacerbated the over-the-top elements from these uniforms. It's a shame to say this is the worst match-up of the year, when 10 years ago, this was probably my favorite uniform match-up.

[infrared41]

The only thing that kept this game out of the #1 spot was that I liked the Colts and Texans match up just a little bit better.

Gotta love your logic sometimes

That does sound pretty dumb, doesn't it? What I was trying to do was explain why a game I described as "two of the best looks in football" didn't take the #1 spot. If I ranked the uniforms individually, the 49ers and Giants would finish ahead of the Texans. Based on my rankings. logic would seem to dictate that Niners - Giants should have been #1, but it wasn't because I just liked the look of Colts - Texans better. I didn't see the need to bore people with my entire thought process, but I did think ranking "two of the best looks in football" #2 needed some sort of explanation.

Does that make a little more sense?

TL:DR - I could have worded it better.

[VikWings]

Chiefs-Bears is #1 in my book.

Giants-49ers is nice, but I prefer the Giants in white pants and SF needs to fix the sleeve stripes.

Colts all white is one of my favorite looks in the league but Texans have always been just meh too me. That would probably be #3 or 4 if I made a list.

As for worst:

It's impossible to disagree with Jags-Bucs #1. The problems with those have been beaten to death.

Bengals-Seahawks was bad, although that's probably Seattles best look other than Blue over Gray (Seattle's unis have grown on me a little but I still hate the chest stripes and they're obsession with going mono-navy)

Ravens-Browns was bad. The Ravens black pants are atrocious and the fact they don't have purple socks to wear with them makes it even worse. The Browns problems, like TB and JAX, have been beaten to death. You put Baltimore in white pants though and this probably avoids the worst list because I actually like their black jerseys.

Eagles-Saints was bad to me too. I've always hated the Eagles midnight green, but I'll admit it looks a lot better with Nike than it did with Reebok, Starter, etc. Add that to the Saints in the Ravens-esque awful yoga pants and the fact they still have neck roll collars and this is on the worst list.

And finally another worst list for me, as I pointed out in the fake best/worst thread was Falcons-Redskins. Falcons in the dated reebok stuff and Redskins in those awful yellow pants, that are only tolerable with the burgundy jersey and should never be worn with the white one.

Did WAS burn the burgundy and white pants or something? The looked great in B-W-B and B-B-W and haven't worn them in years. In an ideal world those are their main sets with the yellow pants as an alternate worn for 2-4 home games.

[Jimmy!]

Totally with you on the Bears white on white.

Kinda wish the Bengals would ditch their uniform font and go back to this look.

One more note: I'm tired of the polo-collar look some teams are still using.

[The_Admiral]

The Colts need white socks with two blue stripes for their road uniforms. The Bengals need to commit to black jerseys, white pants, orange socks. Agree on the Bears needing to go back to all white on the road.

[AgentColon2]

My #1 this week was KC vs CHI.

Nice contrast, beautiful sun light and some slightly tweaked classics. One thing I sure do miss though is the shiny Bears road pants. Those were a thing of beauty. But of the matte changes, the Bears aren't too terribly offensive.

[oldschoolvikings]

The only thing that kept this game out of the #1 spot was that I liked the Colts and Texans match up just a little bit better.

Gotta love your logic sometimes

Have the Bengals ever worn the orange socks with that helmet-jersey-pants combo? I think that would be a look worth trying.

They have not, but this mannequin modeled it when Nike first took over the NFL.

The orange socks should be the only socks... pretty much every combo they wear looks as good or better with orange socks. Destroys all leotards, too.

[AnPheitseog]

easy solution. require socks stop 1" below the pants while standing.

[BBTV]

The Saints and Rams are tied for teams that should look great every single week but shoot themselves in the foot because they're just dumb.

1. All the Rams need to do is wear gold pants every week. Done. I don't even care about their collar, because it kind of looks like horns, even though they'd be facing the wrong way. Either way nbd. They go from bottom tier to top tier instantly.

2. The Saints need to ditch the solid black pants, and either wear gold full time, or black with the thick gold stripe. That would even make the black socks acceptable, though white would be better. The Saints also have kind of a Cowboys thing going on in that none of their golds match. Also the stupid collar. And that their NOB is kinda helveticish while their numbers are thick block.

OK, so the Saints really aren't that close.

In conclusion,

1. Colts vs Texans is too dark and too few colors. I think when rating a game, the conditions need to be a factor and even though I would still not have made it my #1, at least in sunshine it's in the discussion. In darkness it's a non starter. Kinda booty, actually.

2. I'm far from a traditionalist, and while I think the Chiefs are in need of a tune up, I simply don't want to live in a world in which KC vs CHI isn't considered the top game of this particular week. You and Admiral have finally convinced me that the Bears should usually go white on white on the road, but in this case their navy pants and helmets going against the bright red of the Chiefs just kicks all kinds of ass.

49ers vs Giants was kinda good to, but I just don't like the Giants in gray pants at home, and I hate the 49ers khakis, and if they're going to go full retro, they need to drop the black oval from their helmet logo.

[AgentColon2]

The old helmet had a black outline as well. Slightly different from the current.

[KittSmith_95]

Flip 1 and 2 for me.

Now, I'm gonna agree with Falcons/Redskins battle. Those yellow pants and white jerseys should never have met.

Also agree on the Titans/Bills matchup. But I hate the light blue pants..... why can't they just make those shoulders navy?

[sharplcd]

Thanks for ruining a potentially great match up:

First place: Bills - Titans: Put the Titans in the light blue pants or their primary home uniform, or even all white, and this game is on the best list.

Such a shame because these two have the potential for some nice looking games!

[infrared41]

Thanks for ruining a potentially great match up:

First place: Bills - Titans: Put the Titans in the light blue pants or their primary home uniform, or even all white, and this game is on the best list.

Such a shame because these two have the potential for some nice looking games!

Exactly.

[ARTnSocal]

.

Tennessee: Unfortunately the Titans stopped wearing their 1960 Houston Oilers throwbacks after the 2009 AFL-50 Legacy season. Stupid NFL one-helmet rule sure saw to keep those stored up in the attic.

As far as Tennessee goes, they should use both their navy blue and columbia blue pants when wearing white jerseys, but switch it up so we don't get tired of either look.

When wearing their colored pants, especially the navy ones they've gotta stop wearing navy socks ...... it just totally ruins their entire look.

The Bears: I like the midnight blue pants better on the road, always have. Either way they need to return to the black cleats, the white ones just don't compliment the look

[BrandMooreArt]

i'll take 9ers v Giants for the win this week. that game featured 2 great uniforms that contrast each other so well. the whole game color palette is very nice, and the 2 teams stand out clearly from each other. also, being under the lights only made it better with those beautiful helmets.