Carolingian Steamroller

Seems about what you’d expect.

It's at least interesting in the sense that it's fun and enjoyable to articulate our positions with the knowledge that we may only add shade and texture to each others positions. Especially since this is a discussion without enmity. With that in mind, let's jump in the Way-Back-Machine Sherman. If we look at the NFL when it really expanded into TV in the 1960's we were still talking about a limited number of franchises. In 1966, the year of the first Super Bowl, there were 15 teams in the NFL an expansion of 3 since the 1958 Sudden Death OT game which we who grew up on Pete and Pete know was broadcast to the stars. Lets look at the teams that year. Five wore some variation of lighter blue (Giants, Cowboys, Lions, Colts, Rams). Two wore black with the Steelers going black and gold and the Falcons in black with red lids. You had two teams in green with the Eagles being the only green helmeted team. The Cardinals and Niners were the only teams in red jerseys. The (Commanders) wore Burgundy, the Vikings were in purple, the Browns... brown, and the Chicago Bears were the only navy blue team in the league. That's not a lot of overlap in terms of color palette. Even at a time when 9 out of 15 teams had only white pants, you could have two teams playing and unless the Lions were playing the Cowboys, it wasn't too hard to distinguish between teams based on color alone. As a marketing strategy, teams at the time preferred to distinguish themselves with unique colors, helmet designs (Eagles, Rams, Steelers, Browns). What's happened since then is the homogenization of color palettes. If I told you a team wearing black jerseys and pants played a team going white over navy blue, would you know who I was talking about? I'm not talking about alternates, I'm looking at baseline default uniforms. To an extent, this is just the marketplace we're living in and I'm not going to scream "Get off my lawn" just because the Titans wear a navy helmet (Lord knows there are bigger fish to fry in this world). There's a lot more teams both due to the merger and expansion. Teams are probably all looking at similar marketing data and with one manufacturer, there's undoubtedly convergent evolution. There's more overlap in design and I think it's fine to use alternates as a way to add contrast to a game where that would have been obvious just based on colors or design back in the 60's, 70's, or 80's.

Generally there’s a lot of overlap between a team’s best look and best for that specific match up and usually the home team gets to set the tone unless you’re dealing with a very specific opponent who has limited option of their own. For example, Bears at Seattle. The Seahawks favor the mono blue. It’s their signature look, love it or hate it. I’ve hated it when the Bears go white over blue for those games since it’s a sea of blue pants and helmets. It’s one of the few instances I would want the Bears to go mono white. But last year was great when Seattle went blue over grey.

Didn’t say better look for the Bears. Better for that specific game.

So about that. Best can have different meanings depending on the context. For example, your best suit might be black but that's not going to the best look if you have to go to court. It will definitely look off if instead of going to court, you go camping. Similarly, context matters for uniforms. Take for example the Los Angeles Chargers. IMO their best look is the powder blue jersey over gold pants. I think its top 5 in all of football. We can debate that but this is my opinion. However, would that pairing be ideal on a day the Green Bay Packers or Pittsburgh Steelers come to town? Those teams sole road uniforms look like this and this: So on that occasion, to avoid an all yellow pants affair, the Chargers would be better off, and look better aesthetically, by wearing their white pants. Not their best look but the best for the situation: An alternate or throwback can give a team the opportunity to wear something that fits the opponent a little better. To give another example, I confess my own bias but I adore the Chicago Bears navy blue over white home uniform. A. D. O. R. E. it. I think its THE best in football. (Long standing, capital S, SUFFERING Bears fan that I am). However, I admit that this: Looked better than this: Context matters and alternates make for opportunities. Teams don't always take proper advantage but at least the option is there.

I think the Giants and Rams have similar shade but the Bears are little more black looking. It's a little more obvious a few years later:

Was that this? https://megan-wood-w5nc.squarespace.com/identity-washingtonredskinsbrandstudy I assume that because it was a collaboration with the team that the theory is that BFBS came from the top?

Anyone have a lead on why? I've heard this story a couple of times on the boards but I haven't seen an article to that effect or an explanation as to Snyder's interest in BFBS. I mean this is low on the list of problems with that organization but still curious, or at least less actively appalled.

It definitely looks great. I didn't include because I have an arbitrary resistance to more than 4 combinations.

I see what you're saying even though I respectfully disagree. That's my personal preference, however, and I think yours is an intriguing viewpoint.

Personally, I think the Bengals should only wear the following combinations as they are all dynamite:

I kinda wish the Bengals used their regular road jerseys just swapping the helmet and socks. Mostly because I just happen to like the new road jersey.

*Mitch Hedberg voice* The Bengals put out a white helmet. People either loved it or they hated it or they thought it was ok.

Right now the Rams' bone jerseys are going back into storage and the white jersey takes over for the rest of the season. I want to talk about the Rams original primary designations which were shown in the release art and how they have largely vanished from the field save the blue over yellow: Home- blue over blue Road - bone over bone with blue socks Alternate 1: blue over yellow Color Rush: bone over bone with bone socks For my purposes here, I'm referring to Home and Road as "original primary designations" and all four shown combination as originally intended combinations. 2020: Out of 18 games (playoffs included) the Rams wore originally intended combinations 11 times. Of those 11, the Rams wore the original primary designations 5 times. 2021: Out of 21 games (playoffs included) the Rams wore their white alternates for 4 games, leaving 17 non-alternate games. Of which the wore originally intended combinations only 8 times. Of those 8, the Rams wore the original primary designations just 3 times. They actually wore blue over bone for as many games as blue over yellow. 2022: So far through 6 games, including preseason, the Rams have worn an originally intended combination twice, both times being the blue over yellow with zero instances (at present) of an original primary designation with both bone over bone options eliminated.

Either way. With the bone jerseys going back into storage for the rest of the year, we may have seen the last of them without their originally intended combination seeing the light of day in 2022.

It keeps the britches look and has the effect of transitioning from the white to gold and the gold blending into the socks.

That looks not terrible.

A nice feature of the original Titans helmet was the flames nearly met in the middle on the back (a bonus of the non-traditional stripe). Seeing the logo from the rear is something I like on helmets that we also see in the Vikings, Eagles, Rams, and Chargers.

I miss these:

I generally favor 50's-60's design across sports (football, baseball, hockey) but I like to consider myself very open to contemporary trends in design. I just like to see a team pick a direction and stick to it, especially if that direction makes them unique.

Yeah, I'm more perturbed by guys randomly wearing solid white socks when everyone else is wearing solid color or color-over-white. Seems like the Niners are one of the biggest offenders. I'm good with solid color socks/tights. I'm good with plain white socks/tights. Just pick a lane as a team.

Right, if that's just their "We have a big game in primetime" look, cool. More power to you.

I'll be honest, the neon green for Seattle has grown on me. It's just their thing and in Seattle, where its pretty grey a lot of the time, the electric color really helps. I wouldn't want that for Jacksonville, but the Seahawks, they own it and I'm down with that.

I think the white jersey/pants combo is fine for the Panthers... with blue socks. If anything, that's been their signature look since the founding of the franchise.

I meant that we didn't that look because that photo is from last year. Yesterday the Vikings wore all white socks: