On Wednesday, there was much rejoicing when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers revealed the “Creamsicle” jerseys that they will wear in their Week 6 game against the Detroit Lions. Those bright orange, red, and white colors pop better and more than the pewter togs the team has worn of late, and that got us thinking: Which NFL teams should take their throwbacks and alternate uniforms as the defaults?
The moment we’ve all been waiting for 👀 pic.twitter.com/v49LPmkRC6
— Tampa Bay Buccaneers (@Buccaneers) July 12, 2023
We are all for the NFL being as fashionable as possible, and here are our suggestions for the teams that should make the outlier the norm in a uniform sense.
The Buccaneers' "Creamsicle" uniforms
The Bucs wore these uniforms from the franchise’s first season of 1976 through the 1996 season, and while both of the team’s Super Bowl wins came with the new Pewter Patrol kits, who among us would not love to see the Creamsicles back on a week-to-week basis?
The Eagles' Kelly green jerseys
Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie switched to the current midnight green look in 1996, but come one — when you think of those old Kelly green unis, how can you not prefer them?
The Chargers' original powder blues
The Chargers have had several different iterations of their legendary “powder blues” over the years, but the originals, which had the first number font on the helmet and were used through the 1973 season, are still the best.
The Patriots' "Pat Patriot" helmets and home reds
The Patriots wore their “Pat Patriot” helmets with the home reds from 1961 through 1992, so none of the Super Bowl wins of the Bill Belichick/Tom Brady era are covered here. But as seen above, in a 2009 throwback to celebrate the American Football League’s 50th anniversary, that combination is hard to top.
The Broncos' "Orange Crush" uniforms
Okay, we get it. The Broncos lost four Super Bowls with their orange home jerseys and block “D” helmets, and they’ve won three with the newer gear that became the norm in 1997. But the current “flying horsie” thing, or whatever it is, cannot match the majesty of the original “Orange Crush” look.
As long as they don’t go back to the vertical stripes they came into the AFL with in 1960.
I am generally in favor of AFL franchises sticking with their original well-known uniforms. The Broncos are the obvious exception. https://t.co/l3wKCQYXq0 pic.twitter.com/dYQ06iXQsF
— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) July 12, 2023
The Seahawks' original blue and green uniforms
Few things say old-school football in the Pacific Northwest more than the Seahawks’ original uniforms, which the team wore from inception in 1976 through the 2001 season. The team has been far more successful in recent years in the Pete Carroll era, of course, but as Hall of Famer Steve Largent shows here from a 1986 photo, nothing pops off the screen quite like Seattle’s first NFL jerseys and helmets.
