infrared41's Best and Worst - NFL Week 9

[infrared41]

This weekly thread immediately came to mind when I tuned into the Raiders-Steelers game.

My first thought was "That's gotta be voted the best of the week".

(if only we could have seen block numbers on Pittsburgh's jerseys)

Yup. That would have put it in the running for best match up of the year.

[infrared41]

Not a bad week, but I still don't get your hate on the Titans.

OK, I've had about enough of this. It seems like you say this every week. Do you actually read my posts, or are you just looking at the pictures? Where did I ever say I hated the Titans? The navy over white is one of my favorite looks. The white over light blue is one of my favorite looks. No, I don't like the Titans in monochrome navy, but my dislike of monochrome is hardly limited to the Titans. Other than all white, I don't like monochrome no matter who is wearing it. No, the navy pants aren't my favorites, but I don't "hate" them. I thought I made that pretty clear.

This wasn't a terrible looking game, it just could have looked so much better if the Titans had stuck with the light blue pants. I sure hope losing this game doesn't lead to New Orleans bringing back the black pants.

Next time, try actually reading the posts that accompany the pictures.

[dennisbergan]

Yes, if we could only see block numbers for the Stillers.

They haven't had block numbers in close to 20 years and some of you act like they are coming back soon or they are some new fangled invention.

Tampa Bay probably shouldn't wear the dark pewter draws with the red jerseys. They'd look better with either white pants or the new color rushed red pants at home and leave the pewter pants option for the road whites. Just something about that combo doesn't look right. Looked great with the old set (because they had shiny pewter pants) but the matte crap looks bad in pewter.

[Harmening]

Yes, if we could only see block numbers for the Stillers.

They haven't had block numbers in close to 20 years and some of you act like they are coming back soon or they are some new fangled invention.

Tampa Bay probably shouldn't wear the dark pewter draws with the red jerseys. They'd look better with either white pants or the new color rushed red pants at home and leave the pewter pants option for the road whites. Just something about that combo doesn't look right. Looked great with the old set (because they had shiny pewter pants) but the matte crap looks bad in pewter.

Please never ban this guy.

I love reading his contrarian posts. His delivery is second to none.

[KittSmith_95]

I'm just gonna say I prefer the navy pants for the Titans myself over columbia.

I'm not sure if that's unpopular, but it's my $0.02.

I usually hate monochrome myself, but it can work sometimes.... I like it best when something doesn't match, say the helmet or socks.

But enough of me saying this.

[infrared41]

Yes, if we could only see block numbers for the Stillers.

They haven't had block numbers in close to 20 years and some of you act like they are coming back soon or they are some new fangled invention.

Oh shut up. No one cares.

[Sport]

The problem with the helmet stripes are that they look normal from the front, but really, really weird from the back. They just curl up and end while coming too close to the logo.

I know the picture on the right is from before the logo change. However, the stripes still look the same.

Two more things that have always bothered me about the Panthers helmet stripes:

1. It creates this weird space on the side of the helmet that the logo doesn't fit into well.

2. the spacing between the stripes differs player to player depending on helmet style. Look at Cam Newton versus his teammate Ted Ginn Jr.

The separation between the stripes is a significant difference and it's always been that way.

The Panthers should just drop the helmet stripes altogether and enlarge the logo by about 15%. That would solve one of the few problems of their pretty good uniforms (the other problems being the hip logo, how lumpy the pants stripe looks, and that 20 years later "Carolina Panthers" still feels like a generic create-a-team or a team in a movie that couldn't get NFL licensing).

[Midway]

To Dennis' credit the Steelers do look much better with these numerals than standard block imo.

[leopard88]

At a minimum, I wish the Steelers would drop the italics. Maybe the fear is that they will resemble the Bears too much if they do (even though I don't that would be the case).

[oldschoolvikings]

At a minimum, I wish the Steelers would drop the italics. Maybe the fear is that they will resemble the Bears too much if they do (even though I don't that would be the case).

I agree with this. The way I remember it (and I could be wrong) was that the jersey numbers were meant to match the helmet numbers... but the italics screw that up. Plus IMO that font looks especially dumb in italics. Big Ben's 7 for example.

It seems like a weird decision to go away from a generic block font by choosing an equally generic rounded font.

[Harmening]

My wish is that they would return to the block font and match the helmets to that.

[wdm1219inpenna]

Harmening, you read my mind. I grew up in the mid 1970s when the Steelers had those block numbers. They've had these "wimpy" looking numerals for far too long now. That's my only gripe with their uniforms, but I've gotten used to it.

I also agree, Carolina looks splendid, just straighten out the helmet stripes.

Pats/Skins looked marvelous in the daylight to be sure.

I also love how the Broncos/Colts look together, regardless of where the game is played.

[DustDevil61]

While their uniforms may need a little refining/updating, I provide you the best argument for keeping the Panthers' uniforms, as described in a progression of pictures in games against their 1995 expansion bretheren, the Jacksonville Jaguars:

One of these teams has stuck to virtually the same look their entire existence, while the other has changed in order to keep up with trends and ultimately destroyed their identity.

I'll gladly take the Panthers' look, dated and imperfect as it may be, over the result of the Jaguars' gradual chipping away of their identity any day of the year.

(They seem to avoid wearing teal like the plague...What the hell, Jaguars?!)

[ConcreteCharlie]

Jaguars are the guy in the middle. 4 horses represent modern uniform design. We all know how this one turns out.

[TheOldRoman]

While their uniforms may need a little refining/updating, I provide you the best argument for the Panthers' uniforms, as described in a progression of pictures in games against their 1995 expansion bretheren, the Jacksonville Jaguars:

One of these teams has stuck to virtually the same look their entire existence, while the other has changed in order to keep up with trends and ultimately destroying their identity.

I'll gladly take the Panthers' look, dated and imperfect as it may be, than to gradually chip away at a team's identity like the Jaguars have.

(They seem to avoid wearing teal like the plague...What the hell, Jaguars?!)

To make this more visually jarring, and because I think the Jaguars' set was perfect in 1995 and got worse with Nike, I submit the 1995 HOF game.

[GFB]

My biggest gripe with the Panthers uniform is the presence of white pants. Silver/white/white has never looked good on any football uniform. They need to alternate between silver pants and black pants on the road.

[oldschoolvikings]

I get why you're doing it, they were both expansion teams together, but it is it really that impressive to compare any teams uniform history to the Jags? They wrote the book on what not to do. You'd be hard pressed to find any team anywhere that fell farther from where they started to today than the Jags.

[ConcreteCharlie]

My biggest gripe with the Panthers uniform is the presence of white pants. Silver/white/white has never looked good on any football uniform. They need to alternate between silver pants and black pants on the road.

I say get rid of the black pants. Silver road, white home would be best for them

[Walter Sobchak]

Some changes to make the Panthers uniforms better IMO would be:

-Replace current helmet stripes with one that matches the pants.

-Ditch the white pants

-Ditch the logos on the pants.

-Wear blue socks and silver pants with home and road jerseys.

[FinsUp1214]

I may be in the minority, but I really feel Carolina's basic set (silver-black-silver and silver-white-white) is just about perfect as is. In fact, they're in my top five NFL sets and have been for many years. I don't want to see much done at all to them for a very long time.

The helmet stripes get a lot of flak, but they've never really bothered me. For one, even though I know they're not claw marks, the stripes have that sort of feel to them, which fit the identity. And regarding the stripe color, the stripes are a little thinner at the start before they taper. They being black helps them to be a bit bolder to make up for the width; if you invert the colors, they're just not going to stand out very well, I think. I also suppose they've been around so long that, in my eyes, they just look right. Granted they probably look like they "shouldn't" work, but to me, they do.

I also think - in regards to the set as a whole - if you tried to change the helmet and/or pants stripes to something more traditional (meaning straighter rather than tapered), it would take away from what I feel to be the set's core strength: a traditional base design that is modernized to fit a swift, "slashy" cat theme. It appears to, from a distance, already look like a rather traditional uniform, yet up close you can see modern elements which set Carolina apart. I wouldn't really want them to lose that, because I feel they've done it so well. And it's been thier look for 20 years. Any further change or even a rebrand, I feel, would be merely change for changes sake rather than an improvement.