Bills unveil throwback jerseys

[ARTnSocal]

Nice photoshopping by whoever did the Fitzpatrick jersey. The lineweight on the red outline is definitely the same as the Dareus jersey...

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I extremely doubt it was Photoshopped, that image came directly from BILLS.com

The Bills Store now has both the replica and limited jerseys in stock, so I'm assuming the image has both versions of the throwback jerseys. The limited are the middle ones between replica and elite if you weren't aware of that.

[IceCap]

Given that the regular Bills' set is throwback inspired, I don't see the point to the throwbacks. It'll look just a little to close to their regular set to be effective as an alternate look. Either throwback to the Kelly era with the red helmets or just go with a red alternate jersey.

[Old School Fool]

They need to just wear the damn blue pants already.

[Jer15]

If the Bills are going to do a throwback, why not go crazy and go with the silver helmet and Honolulu blue that they wore in their first three seasons?

Just for something different, that's all I'm thinking.

[TheOldRoman]

Given that the regular Bills' set is throwback inspired, I don't see the point to the throwbacks. It'll look just a little to close to their regular set to be effective as an alternate look. Either throwback to the Kelly era with the red helmets or just go with a red alternate jersey.

I agree. Furthermore, the Bills are making the same mistake the Twins did when they rolled out their new unis - giving fans a superior alternative to them. Sure they are slightly wonky and maybe should be updated in some areas, but in both cases, the throwbacks are clearly superior to the new current jerseys the team is wearing. The Twins should have just made everything on their current unis navy with a red outline and called it a day; no need for the throwbacks. The Bills overthought the design and ended up with something looking much worse than it should. Looking at the tapered helmet stripe, the inclusion of navy, the sock-incongruities, the horrible collars (both this year and last) and the hip logo intersecting the pants stripes, this throwback is far superior to the current unis, even with all its flaws.

[Sabrejeff]

If the Bills are going to do a throwback, why not go crazy and go with the silver helmet and Honolulu blue that they wore in their first three seasons?

Just for something different, that's all I'm thinking.

Fixed.

[John in KY]

It's always kind of puzzled me that Reebok could have gotten the Bills home '65 throwback pretty much as accurate as they could possibly be (they had to move the TV numbers to the shoulders to make it fit the 2000s jersey template) but they couldn't even come close on the stripes on that road throwback as worn in 2009. Nike's just being lazy and copying Reebok's mistake.

[IceCap]

Furthermore, the Bills are making the same mistake the Twins did when they rolled out their new unis - giving fans a superior alternative to them. Sure they are slightly wonky and maybe should be updated in some areas, but in both cases, the throwbacks are clearly superior to the new current jerseys the team is wearing.....The Bills overthought the design and ended up with something looking much worse than it should. Looking at the tapered helmet stripe, the inclusion of navy, the sock-incongruities, the horrible collars (both this year and last) and the hip logo intersecting the pants stripes, this throwback is far superior to the current unis, even with all its flaws.

I disagree....kind of. You said it yourself, the Bills' throwbacks could stand to be updated in some areas. An ideal execution of that would leave you with something very similar to what they're currently wearing. I agree with you regarding the current set's missteps (the collars, the navy, and the helmet stripe) but even with them I think the Bills have a sharp look.

The logo's a no contest. Personally I've never thought much of the grazing buffalo. There's simple and iconic, and then there's clip art and old. The grazing buffalo, in my opinion, is an example of the latter.

That being said, I wouldn't be opposed to switching the blue and red on the current logo, to emulate the "red buffalo on a white helmet" look. Or even starting from scratch and coming up with a new logo that takes ques from the grazing buffalo while also doing more with the concept then the original did.

[andrewharrington]

It's always kind of puzzled me that Reebok could have gotten the Bills home '65 throwback pretty much as accurate as they could possibly be (they had to move the TV numbers to the shoulders to make it fit the 2000s jersey template) but they couldn't even come close on the stripes on that road throwback as worn in 2009. Nike's just being lazy and copying Reebok's mistake.

The manufacturers produce what is specified to them by the teams and//or the league. Reebok was not responsible for those inaccuracies, and neither is Nike. Either the team/league doesn't know they have it wrong, or they don't care.

[Buffalo]

They need to just wear the damn blue pants already.

AMEN! Too bad it doesn't sound likely!

[ARTnSocal]

.

Let me again repeat what I stated prior.

moosebean11 had the best idea, and that was to use the 1962-1963 home jersey as the throwback. They could easily get it totally genuine as to how it was back in the day due to the stripes being where the sleeves and shoulders come together.

Whether the '62-'73 logo looks like clipart is not important, it's a freakin' throwback, it doesn't have to be modern, that's why they're known as throwbacks, Icecap.

Also, teams like Buffalo, NY Jets (Titans of NY), Oakland, and Denver should NOT ever bring back as throwbacks their initial uniforms from their infancy season(s) of the AFL from 1960 and 1961 . They had no logo, no pizazz, and they're just plain awful. I won't even mention Denver's striped bowling socks that were set on fire by the team after their uniform change following the 1961 season.

The Bills wore that Honolulu Blue with silver helmets with numbers for 2 seasons, not 3 as 'Sabrejeff' pointed out. Those above-mentioned 4 AFL teams never had any identity in their original uniform sets. Why the Jets keep those Titans uni's is quite puzzling, but for some reason Rex seems to like 'em.

Also I totally agree with the 'OldSchoolFool' Raider fan and 'Buffalo' about the blue pants. When it was revealed about the all-white '65 throwback on the official Bills board, there were many responses like "hey, what about the blue pants" and "was there any mention about the blue pants"?? That made me chuckle, it's just a never-ending issue with most Bills fans including myself.

This 1963 uniform is the one ... it would make for the best throwback ... the long-time fans love the pre-1974 logo, I'm one of them. It's also totally different from the current primary's which were based off the 1974-1975 look. 'From 76-'83 the facemask was blue rather than gray on the white helmet..

[John in KY]

It's always kind of puzzled me that Reebok could have gotten the Bills home '65 throwback pretty much as accurate as they could possibly be (they had to move the TV numbers to the shoulders to make it fit the 2000s jersey template) but they couldn't even come close on the stripes on that road throwback as worn in 2009. Nike's just being lazy and copying Reebok's mistake.

The manufacturers produce what is specified to them by the teams and//or the league. Reebok was not responsible for those inaccuracies, and neither is Nike. Either the team/league doesn't know they have it wrong, or they don't care.

Good point - the way uniforms are marketed today the supplier takes too much credit for designs and therefore get assigned too much of the blame for bad research.

[canzman]

[TheOldRoman]

Furthermore, the Bills are making the same mistake the Twins did when they rolled out their new unis - giving fans a superior alternative to them. Sure they are slightly wonky and maybe should be updated in some areas, but in both cases, the throwbacks are clearly superior to the new current jerseys the team is wearing.....The Bills overthought the design and ended up with something looking much worse than it should. Looking at the tapered helmet stripe, the inclusion of navy, the sock-incongruities, the horrible collars (both this year and last) and the hip logo intersecting the pants stripes, this throwback is far superior to the current unis, even with all its flaws.

I disagree....kind of. You said it yourself, the Bills' throwbacks could stand to be updated in some areas. An ideal execution of that would leave you with something very similar to what they're currently wearing. I agree with you regarding the current set's missteps (the collars, the navy, and the helmet stripe) but even with them I think the Bills have a sharp look.

The logo's a no contest. Personally I've never thought much of the grazing buffalo. There's simple and iconic, and then there's clip art and old. The grazing buffalo, in my opinion, is an example of the latter.

That being said, I wouldn't be opposed to switching the blue and red on the current logo, to emulate the "red buffalo on a white helmet" look. Or even starting from scratch and coming up with a new logo that takes ques from the grazing buffalo while also doing more with the concept then the original did.

First off, I have seen people try to reverse the colors on the current logo, and it looks garish. I guess it's because I am so used to the current logo, but it had a horrible photo-negative quality, like the current Wizards' primary.

As for the other points, I think this throwback is closer to what they should be wearing. For me, the addition of new crap (bad collars, navy, thin block font, etc) far outweigh the things this uniform fixed. The throwback looks so clean and distinctive. IMO, the perfect solution would have been to just fix the throwbacks. Slap the current logo on the helmet, swap the blue and red on the pants stripes and call it a day. The new look is far too cluttered and forced. It's still not a bad look, but I think it's far from great.

[FGWB]

No toilet seat collar on the throwback.

Why couldn't they have done the same to the primary set?

[Jer15]

No toilet seat collar on the throwback.

Why couldn't they have done the same to the primary set?

So annoying!