St. Louis Rams in throwbacks today

[rmackman]

and finally....I encourage everyone to come up with a caption for this one...

[The_Admiral]

The current template is better, but the old colors look so much cooler than the increasingly dated YEAR-TWO-THOUSAND trend of navy blue/old gold. Those old numbers look really sloppy and cheap. The helmet doesn't match. The stripes on the pants are a little generic. But at least they look like a classic football team. Something about the washed-out 2000s colors, in concert with the decidedly less-than-ecstatic setting of the Jones Dome, is really lifeless and dull. Just use the old colors on the new uniforms and you're set.

[swilson160]

I'm claiming the throwbacks are better, to be clear.

I don't mind the new ones (except when they wear blue jerseys/white pants). But I wish they'd at least make the shoulder stripes into Ram horns. Yeah, so ram horns are on the ram's head. I'm not asking for the team to look like actual rams--in that case, I'd say to go with fluffy wool jerseys. But the ram horn shoulder stripe was a unique element and completely related to the team name; now it's just a generic shoulder stripe for no other reason than to have a shoulder stripe.

[FiddySicks]

The current set is much better IMO, but that shade of blue on the throwbacks is beautiful.

[BlueSky]

Always loved the ram horn shoulder stripe. The colors are definitely more unique. And as I always have, I think the helmet horn would really pop with a very thin white outline. I think Bucco did a concept once where he used that and it looked terrific.

[larrypep]

The Rams throwbacks are much better than the current set IMO. I agree with the poster that the white jerseys on the Throwbacks are much better. I don't remember them wearing the white jersey 90% of the time, but when the Rams wore blue/white sets of the Deacon Jones era I do know they wore whites most of the time.

[tBBP]

Always loved the ram horn shoulder stripe. The colors are definitely more unique. And as I always have, I think the helmet horn would really pop with a very thin white outline. I think Bucco did a concept once where he used that and it looked terrific.

You are correct, Mr. G. Here that is once more for those who may have missed it:

I would have included a link to the original Concepts thread in which I posted this set...but I didn't because there's really no need to go reviving old threads over there with fresh comments, knaw'mean?

[oldschoolvikings]

As usual, love your work, but can't take the dark socks with dark pants. Other than that... perfect.

[BelfourThibault]

I got some good pics from this game. I have been a Rams fan since they moved to town in 1995, thick and thin. These uniforms are 10x better than the drab crap they're wearing now.

[guest23]

Now if someone just could have gotten Minnesota to wear a real NFL uniform we'd have something. The Rams look good but I don't think those are really any better than their current set.

Yeah, these fake uniforms nowadays are just so wrong. Those real Rams uniforms with the miss-matched color blues on the helmet and jersey and the striping on the pants that is repeated nowhere else in the entire uniform are just awesome.

During a portion of their existence, the Rams deliberately mis-matched the uniform and helmet Blue:

the reason most likely being that painted shells really didn't start making their way onto fields until the late 90's...before that teams at every level were using the standard molded shell colors...for decades I'm pretty sure that there were only two shades of blue available...a ghastly powder royal blue that the broncos used on their D helmets and a darker royal/navy that the rams and giants used which was significantly darker than the rest of the uniforms...you'll notice also that when the giants went back to the classic ny unis they went with a metallic royal finish that is lighter and a much closer match to the royal in the uniforms.

[BlueSky]

I got some good pics from this game. I have been a Rams fan since they moved to town in 1995, thick and thin. These uniforms are 10x better than the drab crap they're wearing now.

Nice pic. Where were you shooting from?

[John in KY]

Now if someone just could have gotten Minnesota to wear a real NFL uniform we'd have something. The Rams look good but I don't think those are really any better than their current set.

Yeah, these fake uniforms nowadays are just so wrong. Those real Rams uniforms with the miss-matched color blues on the helmet and jersey and the striping on the pants that is repeated nowhere else in the entire uniform are just awesome.

During a portion of their existence, the Rams deliberately mis-matched the uniform and helmet Blue:

the reason most likely being that painted shells really didn't start making their way onto fields until the late 90's...before that teams at every level were using the standard molded shell colors...for decades I'm pretty sure that there were only two shades of blue available...a ghastly powder royal blue that the broncos used on their D helmets and a darker royal/navy that the rams and giants used which was significantly darker than the rest of the uniforms...you'll notice also that when the giants went back to the classic ny unis they went with a metallic royal finish that is lighter and a much closer match to the royal in the uniforms.

Small historical correction - all Riddell shells were painted in the 50s, 60s and even into the early 70s - including the white shells. Riddell just molded them in an off-white color, painted the outside then painted the inside kind of a neutral grey color. This might have been true for the "bubble ear" RK helmets up until they were discontinued circa 1976/77 even though the TK shells (used on TK suspension helmets and every padded/air/liquid-filled Riddell helmet up to the new Revolution and Revo Speed models) were molded or "impregnated" as Riddell called it.

By say 1972/73 or so most teams (exceptions for teams with metallic gold, silver, and that Dallas "silver blue" color) went to molded shells. The new generation of painted helmets (including the pearl and chrome finishes) for colors other than silver, metallic gold (and whatever the hell the Cowboys are really using these days) did come in during the late 1990s. Also I'm not counting the clear shell helmets of the 60s-80s; of course they had to be painted.

Also you have to give special consideration to the Eagles for being about 22 years ahead of the times - check out the metallic green shells from 1974/75; by 1976 the metallics were all but gone and they went to plain green molded shells (and a lot of the Eagles used Maxpro clear shell helmets):

[TruColor]

the reason most likely being that painted shells really didn't start making their way onto fields until the late 90's...before that teams at every level were using the standard molded shell colors...for decades I'm pretty sure that there were only two shades of blue available...a ghastly powder royal blue that the broncos used on their D helmets and a darker royal/navy that the rams and giants used which was significantly darker than the rest of the uniforms...you'll notice also that when the giants went back to the classic ny unis they went with a metallic royal finish that is lighter and a much closer match to the royal in the uniforms.

Small historical correction - all Riddell shells were painted in the 50s, 60s and even into the early 70s - including the white shells. Riddell just molded them in an off-white color, painted the outside then painted the inside kind of a neutral grey color. This might have been true for the "bubble ear" RK helmets up until they were discontinued circa 1976/77 even though the TK shells (used on TK suspension helmets and every padded/air/liquid-filled Riddell helmet up to the new Revolution and Revo Speed models) were molded or "impregnated" as Riddell called it.

By say 1972/73 or so most teams (exceptions for teams with metallic gold, silver, and that Dallas "silver blue" color) went to molded shells. The new generation of painted helmets (including the pearl and chrome finishes) for colors other than silver, metallic gold (and whatever the hell the Cowboys are really using these days) did come in during the late 1990s. Also I'm not counting the clear shell helmets of the 60s-80s; of course they had to be painted.

Also you have to give special consideration to the Eagles for being about 22 years ahead of the times - check out the metallic green shells from 1974/75; by 1976 the metallics were all but gone and they went to plain green molded shells (and a lot of the Eagles used Maxpro clear shell helmets):

Great info. This is also probably the reason that the Eagles designated separate shades of Green for their uniforms vs. helmets during that time-period (I might need to adjust the dates with this new information):

[rtrich11]

They wore these whites more often than the blue. Would have rather seen this.

(Not that a silly ram horn on the sleeve is so cool.)

[The_Admiral]

They were 1999 throwbacks (weird as that sounds). They wore the blues at home. The white ones look really cheap and ugly, sorry.

[John in KY]

Small historical correction - all Riddell shells were painted in the 50s, 60s and even into the early 70s - including the white shells. Riddell just molded them in an off-white color, painted the outside then painted the inside kind of a neutral grey color. This might have been true for the "bubble ear" RK helmets up until they were discontinued circa 1976/77 even though the TK shells (used on TK suspension helmets and every padded/air/liquid-filled Riddell helmet up to the new Revolution and Revo Speed models) were molded or "impregnated" as Riddell called it.

By say 1972/73 or so most teams (exceptions for teams with metallic gold, silver, and that Dallas "silver blue" color) went to molded shells. The new generation of painted helmets (including the pearl and chrome finishes) for colors other than silver, metallic gold (and whatever the hell the Cowboys are really using these days) did come in during the late 1990s. Also I'm not counting the clear shell helmets of the 60s-80s; of course they had to be painted.

Also you have to give special consideration to the Eagles for being about 22 years ahead of the times - check out the metallic green shells from 1974/75; by 1976 the metallics were all but gone and they went to plain green molded shells (and a lot of the Eagles used Maxpro clear shell helmets):

Great info. This is also probably the reason that the Eagles designated separate shades of Green for their uniforms vs. helmets during that time-period (I might need to adjust the dates with this new information):

Yep - you know I vaguely remembered these helmets (hey I was 12 in '74) and thought I was going crazy about them until I did some research recently on Getty Images. I believe they started being phased out and replaced by plain kelly green helmets when Vermiel arrived in 1976; of course that also coincides with a lot of Eagle players switching from Riddell helmets to the clearshell Maxpro helmets (the Cowboys and Steelers were also big Maxpro users). I guess Maxpro couldn't get the metallic shade right - plus the "clear" shell was really kind of tinted slightly blue-grey (as were the MacGregor-Kelley helmets); in some photos dated 1975 you will see a player with a metallic finish Riddell next to a player with a plain green Maxpro. By 1976 you begin to see Eagle players new to the team like Ron Jaworski wearing a plain green molded-shell Riddell helmet, so I guess they just phased out the metallic ones - when a Riddell player needed a new helmet they got a plain green one.

I've also always noticed that the Cowboys Maxpros (and other clear shell helmets) always came out looking more "silver" than those painted on the exterior like Riddell, Rawlings, etc. which were more the "silver blue" shade. All their "silver blue" helmets now (since they adopted the navy/silver dark set in 1981) look like the Maxpros worn by Staubach, Randy White, Waters, etc. in the 70s.

EDIT - I was off by a year; old "Jaws" joined the Eagles in 1977. But the change from metallic green started in Vermiel's first season.

And just to keep back on topic - Jaworski as a Ram in the blue/yellow ram horn style in 1976:

[STL FANATIC]

They were 1999 throwbacks (weird as that sounds). They wore the blues at home. The white ones look really cheap and ugly, sorry.

I loved the whites (for their time--as with the entire identity), but I agree to the other part. They were throwing back to their time in STL, specifically 1999, not their time in LA. Therefore the blue was the right choice.

Of course they actually won the Super Bowl wearing the whites, but that's just what it is.

[illini1]

The one thing that bothered me about the shoulder stripe was that it wasn't completely rounded. Reebok got lazy and took a shortcut which resulted in the horn not being completely rounded like on the original uniform. I would find a picture, but I'm lazy and at work.

[STL FANATIC]

The one thing that bothered me about the shoulder stripe was that it wasn't completely rounded. Reebok got lazy and took a shortcut which resulted in the horn not being completely rounded like on the original uniform. I would find a picture, but I'm lazy and at work.

I know what you're talking about... it was specifically noticeable on the inside of the horn moreso than the outside. But I'm less inclined to blame Reebok--it was what they had to do to make it fit on the sleeves. Further, I'm not so sure this treatment wasn't already happening in '99.

[Quillz]

While I like the current Rams uniforms, they haven't won anything since adopting them. The older blue and yellow uniforms were worn when they played in LA (where they belong.) They made two Super Bowl appearances in them and won the latter. I always felt the old uniforms looked great, and I was reminded of that when I saw these throwback jerseys on Sunday.

A lot of these throwback uniforms I actually really liked... The Broncos and the Rams. Sometimes I wished teams would just stick with their older colors instead of changing things around for the times. The Rams' old yellow and blue uniforms were classic, and I still see little reason why they were ever retired in the first place, especially the season AFTER they won the Super Bowl.