Nfl uniform changes

[CC97]

When the Eagles play the Saints tonight we will have seen all of the new NFL Uniforms in actual game action.

After initially seeing the uniforms in non-game action, and now seeing them in game-action has anyone's opinion changed or stayed the same about certain uniforms?

Personally, I think the Falcons uniforms look a lot better in-game then when I first saw them back in May. Granted I am still not a fan, I don't think they look as bad as I once did.

(I realise we have several topics about individual changes, I just wanted to centralise the conversations)

...

New NFL Uniforms Make Debuts

New NFL Uniforms Make Debuts

What to Watch for in 2003

By Chris Creamer

August 11, 2003

The NFL Pre-season is finally here, which means that we get our first glimpse of what the new NFL uniforms look like in real-game action.

The most noticable change in the NFL is the Atlanta Falcons, who modernised their logo, and re-worked their uniforms added red and white to the sleeves, as well as changing their fonts. The Falcons also gave us our first look at the new FieldTurf at the Georgia Dome in their pre-season contest against the Packers on Saturday.

The Detroit Lions tweaked their logo, and uniforms a bit by adding black to their colour scheme. Their uniforms were altered by adding black to the helmet logo, and the facemask. The home and road jerseys both have black outlining the numbers, with black stripes also appearing on the sleeves.

The Cleveland Browns made some very slight adjustments to their uniforms. The pant striping has been reversed and now better matches their sleeve striping. A new 'BROWNS' wordmark has been added under the collar, and the initials of their deceased owner Al Lerner now appear in the stripes on the left arm. A tribute similar-in-style to the one the Chicago Bears pay to former owner George S. Halas with the "GSH" initials on their sleeve.

The Washington Redskins returned to their old home uniforms after a year of the retro look (which was in honour of the team's 70th Anniversary). The Redskins added a wordmark under the collar on their jerseys as well as a patch on their uniforms in honour of owner Daniel Snyder's father who passed away recently.

Joining the 'wordmark under the collar' parade is the Philadelphia Eagles who altered their wordmark to match the style that appears in their endzone. With the arrival of a new stadium also comes some other minor uniform changes. The numbers the Eagles players wear will now be outlined with silver and black drop-shadow. The font remains the same.

Two new alternate jerseys will be debuting this season, the Tennessee Titans will be wearing a powder- blue version of their jersey on opening night in Nashville. The Miami Dolphins will be going all-orange sometime this season, those uniforms will be released on September 5th.

[STL FANATIC]

I like what the Browns have done. I am disapointed with the Cardinals non change. The Eagles change is just done poorly, although I'll have to wait till tonite to see them in game. The Falcons I have liked for the most part since the beginning with the exception of their logo and their numbers with the drop shadow. Can't remember the others, but there ya go.

[Brian in Boston]

I like what the Cleveland Browns have done, which is nothing more than a tweak. However, that "tweak" - and I'm speaking specifically about the pant-striping change - serves to bring the entire uniform together in a much more cohesive way.

I'm a fan of the Philadelphia Eagles adding silver to the numbers. However, I feel that the black drop-shadow is gratuitous and actually takes away from what they gain with the addition of silver. I also don't feel that a drop-shadow works particularly well with a team identity that has taken a step in a more "modern" direction over the last few years. IMHO, drop-shadows have a decidedly retro look. Meanwhile, the Eagles' primary logo was cleaned up and given a more modern treatment a few years back, their helmet logo was redesigned with a crisper look... even their wordmarks were rendered in an edgier, modern font. To my mind, the drop-shadow numbers look out of place on this more modern Philadelphia uniform. I can live with the new pants striping.

As for the Falcons... from what I can tell, I seem to be in the minority on this (at least as far as the CCSL boards go), but I like the new logo. Atlanta's logo was ALWAYS a STYLIZED rendering of a Falcon, so arguments that the new mark no longer realistically captures the image of the namesake bird are moot. I've seen falcons... the old logo wasn't exactly a photo-realistic rendition of the bird either. That said, the new logo is crisper, bolder and not weighed down by the outdated late-60s/early-70s design principles that plagued the old one. I like the direction that the new uniforms go in as well. My one complaint would be Atlanta's use of drop-shadowing on the numerals. Even with the use of a more modern alphanumeric font, the drop-shadow seems too "retro" for the thoroughly modern design of the uniform.

Oh, and lest everyone thinks that I'm all about jettisoning retro style for modern design, bear in mind that I'm a huge fan of the San Francisco Giants' look in baseball. I just don't think that you should be mixing-and-matching retro/modern design elements in most uniforms.

Brian in Boston

[Brian in Boston]

Inadvertantly hit the "Enter" key. Anyway, to conclude...

I feel that the Detroit Lions REALLY dropped the ball. While the theory that darker trim would serve to add visual "pop" to certain elements of their uniform was a good one, black was the wrong choice for that color. IMHO, the Lions should have utilized a deep Navy Blue for this purpose. What's more, that trim needed to be applied consistently throughout the uniforms. Why it plays a completely different role from application to application (sleeve-striping vs. pants-striping, pants-striping vs. helmet-striping, etc.), I don't know. What I do know is that it creates a visual "mish-mosh" that is jarring. It's also time to tweak the Lions' logo. I'm not saying that they necessarily need to adopt a logo akin to what the Dolphins, Jaguars, Ravens, Bengals or Eagles use: i.e. a highly-detailed rendering of their animal mascot. If the die-hard fans support maintaining a silhouette treatment, so be it. I'm simply saying that they need to clean up the silhouette... make it sharper and crisper. As it is now, the logo looks like a Honolulu Blue Rorschach Test.

As for the Cardinals, I personally wish that they had gone with the rumored, plain, white jerseys... at least for now. While I'd love to see the Cardinals somehow pay tribute to their home in Arizona, the tiny state flag on the sleeves always struck me as looking like an afterthought. It just didn't fit the whole package. Hopefully, the franchise will finally embrace a redesign when they move in to their new facility. Frankly, it's long overdue. I'd love to see them jettison the black - even in the logo - for a shade of blue like that which is found in the Arizona State flag. IMHO opinion, you could keep the current logo, but if you wanted to change it, I'd suggest going with something like the proposal Nitroseed came up with. Then, you could give the uniform an "Arizona" feel, by rendering sleeve and pants striping in a "Southwestern" pattern; Arizona Flag Blue, Cardinal Red, Metallic Copper and (maybe) Yellow might be good for this . Nothing too over-the-top, mind you. I believe that the "less is more" theory would definitely apply to this trim.

Brian in Boston

[Saintsfan]

I still can't decide about the Falcons jersey! Months of looking at it and sometimes it looks okay sometimes I look at it and think ugh! ANd sometimes i think it looks really good!

The Lions still looks like a fairly meaningless change. The kind of thing that if you hadn't been told about you would hardly notice!

And I said elosewhere that the Browns change, althought it is subtle, makes a world of difference

[STL FANATIC]

I forgot the Lions. I really like what they have done. The black looks good, and not only that, by doing this redesign they kind of consistencized (not the word I am looking for...not even a word...) the striping. I like it very much.

Also, I complained about the Eagles dropshadow, but I do love their new pants.

The Falcons logo has a frickin huge arm, no tail, and the silver should be dropped. I never said I cared for the other logo much either. I also hafta think their old but was pretty new wordmark would have fit better. Again, I also don't like the dropshadow. Silver really needs to be dropped since they left it off everything but the logo.

[yh]

I agree with pretty much all of Brian in Boston's observations.  I am really pleased with the way the Falcons' new helmet decal turned out.  The thick silver border really makes a difference in setting the predominately black logo off from the black helmet.  My only gripe is that with the advent of form-fitting sleeves, the sleeve striping looks odd and lumpy.

[DEAD!]

I feel that the Detroit Lions REALLY dropped the ball.

Like they haven't done that before?  

Q: I'm still trying to figure out why you have 'Brian in Boston' in the end of you messages?

[JQK]

The Falcons logo was one of the greatest in not only the NFL, but in the sporting world. The change is definantly for the worse. The uniforms are alright. I like the jerseys, but the pants are just fantasticly ugly.

Browns, nice tweaking.

Lions... ugh

Eagles... i love the silver outline.. works very well.. and the drop-shadow is a nice little touch, and it is very slight, not as pronounced as thr 49ers drop shadow. A good tweak.

[-kj]

Quadvial, why do you keep asking that? *shakes head*  It's akin to a signature on a letter or an e-mail, it's not that tough.

Anyway, my quick takes:

- Drop shadows don't seem retro at all to me, really; in fact, they usually seem much the opposite.

- I'm not sure about the old Atlanta logo being "one of the best," but it wasn't bad.  I actually like the new one.

- I like the outline on the Lions' logo and helmet stripes.  I still think something like SHB's "modernization" would serve them nicely.

- On the other hand, the stripes on the Lions' jerseys look bad.  They goofed those up.

- The Browns' change is subtle, but y'all're right about it making a difference in a good way.

- The Cardinals just need to fold, or maybe move again. ::

[DEAD!]

Ha! Ha! I didn't think anyone would notice me asking that question time after time...... I'll stop asking that Mockba, alright?

But I was just curious about that because if Brian in Boston wanted to write 'Brian in Boston' at the end of his messages he could have just put that in the signautre. I wouldn't be asking that all the time if that were the case. I guess since his messages are so long, putting in 'Brian in Boston' doesn't seem too much of a hassle huh?

There is also the topic of redundancy.... never mind...

Seriously though, here's what I think...

Atlanta's new logo would go very well with the old script. The endzones with the new font look ridiculous as well as the turf in the Georgia Dome. It's almost like Super Bowl XXXIV never happened there.... Their jerseys would be better if they left out the white sections on the sleeves.

I like the black outline around the numbers on the Lions jerseys. I think they stand out on TV more.

As for Arizona.... how about a name change.... to something more Southwestern like Diablos or Scorpions... Give the Cardinals name back to St. Louis (or Chicago) then the Rams would go back to Cleveland and then Browns to... Oh darn... make that LA once they get a team again...

Speaking of the Browns, I didn't really notice the changes so I'll give them a pass despite the fact I never really liked the colour scheme at all.

Quadival in T.O.

[TruColor]

- The Cardinals just need to fold, or maybe move again. ::

You're just trying to get under my skin, aren't you?

::

[M59]

In my opinion, the more football uniforms get redesigned, the more they look like basketball uniforms, what with the logos, the goofy numbers, the non sleeves, the NFL/Reebok shield, and the tiny team names on 'em...

Give me the Raiders, or the Redskins (one of the few 70s redesigns that worked)...what some of these teams have done is just flat out stupid...and I can live without it.

Of course, if NFL football gets any more BORING, I'll finally be able to live without the whole d****d thing!

[Discrim]

i was angry when the pats started wearing the 'redskins' pants and i don't like the eagleskins pants that much either.  they would have been better served with silver pants with last year's striping.

the lions, i didn't see any highlights of their game vs the steelers but i hated their use of black when those came out, and still hate it.  if they had used navy or maybe that maroonish color the michigan panthers used to use instead of black, this would have looked much better.

now for the dirty falconno, the logo to me was a nice update, although i was slightly disappointed that they only have silver in the logo.  the jersey is a breath of fresh air, but i agree with the sentiment that the new-old 'Falcons' wordmark would have worked better with this logo than the new font, which looks ridiculously bad with this logo.

[-kj]

You're just trying to get under my skin, aren't you?

Only slightly.  

Remember, I grew up in St. Louis.  I know the Deadbirds well.

[tajmccall]

The Miami Dolphins will be going all-orange sometime this season, those uniforms will be released on September 5th.

Oh my oh my,

I cant wait, that should prove as bash fodder for the masses for years.

I cant even imagine what that will look like. I may like it, i LOVED the Bucs 'creamsicle' look, but they were talked out of doing the all orange by vets in the 90's (rumor an analysist said during a late vikes/bucs tilt)