The Best Looking NFL Uniforms…

The Best Looking NFL Uniforms Still Left in the 2010 Playoffs

Wildcard weekend saw the dismissal of two of the ugliest sets of uniforms in the NFL.  Cincinnati and New England.  Is there a huge correlation between how a team looks when they take the field, and how they play once the game begins?  No.  But to say there’s no evidence that looking bad has an effect on how well (or poorly) a team plays would also be inaccurate.

(See the 1976 -77 Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Bill Belichick’s recent choice of head wear.)

Here’s how the remaining teams in the NFL Playoffs rank in the uniform style department.

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#8  The Minnesota Vikings

The Metrodome in Minneapolis has just one thing going for it.  It’s not the ugliest thing associated with the Vikings.  That “honor” goes to the uniforms.  Their jerseys got an update a few seasons ago and they ended up coming out looking more awkward than ever.  Gone was the ugly but, y’know… classic… purple people eaters look.  And in came a lighter purple, big blocky white stripes and more yellow accents.  They look like a Tennessee Titans uniform that’s been starved of oxygen and is slipping into unconsciousness.  And the helmets STILL don’t quite match the jerseys.  Purple got Julius Caesar Killed.  Let’s hope the Vikings and their uniforms are also put out of their misery this weekend.

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#7  The San Diego Chargers

Another Victim of the “Let’s Add more White” club.  A minor revamp of their uniforms a few seasons back started well enough with the powder blue throwbacks from the 70s.  And somehow, they combined that look with the Late 90s Stan Humphries Specials… to get a uniform that always has a white helmet.  It looks like The Flash painted his Easter Egg and slapped it on top of Antonio Gates.  The Lightning Bolts have never made sense as stripes on the shoulders.  Maybe they’ll stick with the powder blues during the playoffs.

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#6  The Arizona Cardinals

Who let a Roller Derby team on the field?  White pants, red shoulders, all the time.  The Cardinal head on the helmet itself got a much needed update a few seasons back but the rest of the uniform got too futuristic looking.

The Cards could have always benefited from a stripe down the middle of their helmets, but just like the Chargers, they now have the egg-head look.

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#5  The Baltimore Ravens

It took them a few years (what do you expect when your team’s colors are Black, Purple, and Gold?) but the Ravens have it about as good as they’ve ever had it.

Yes the Raven on the helmet is too cartoonish.  But the color scheme is dead on.  Their road and alternate uniforms trump their home purple shirts, but overall the Ravens as a team, and their Uniforms, reflect a gritty east coast city.

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#4  Indianapolis Colts

The All-Whites the Colts wear while away look much better than their home blues but it’s still the closest thing the NFL gets to one of the greatest Uniforms of all time.  Joe Paterno’s Penn State Nittany Lions.

Minimalist?  Yes.  Classic?  Absolutely.  Why screw with it?  The stripes are perfect, the horseshoe on the helmet is well balanced with the simple blue stripe…  No nonesense all business.  Yes the blue is a little too true blue, but it’s always been that way.  No reason to change.

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#3  The Dallas Cowboys

They’d be even higher if they’d fully embrace the early 60’s inspired White and Navy alternates they wear every so often.  But the silver helmets and pants of “America’s Team” (which they aren’t by the way) are as classic as it gets.

Jerry Jones has tweaked the jerseys throughout the years but never strayed from what they’ve always really worn.  Maybe it’s time to re-introduce the fans to those White and Navy getups and lose the silver for a few years.

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#2  The New Orleans Saints

Gold doesn’t get really too high on any kind of style lists because it can remind everyone of a used-car-salesman.  But New Orleans is New Orleans.  Deep South, coastal, proud heritage, carnival… All of that excess that can flow in the French Quarter means that gold is a great choice.  And the triple outlined Fleur-de-lis on the helmet just looks sharp.

They’re also one of the only teams in the NFL that can pull off the matching jersey/pants look when they go black jerseys, black pants, with the gold helmets.

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#1  The New York Jets

Hands down the best jersey in the NFL.  Hunter Green looks great on two things:  British Sports Cars and the Jerseys of the New York Jets.  Cardinals and Chargers take note.  This is how you do a white helmet.  Double Stripe down the middle, classic/retro oval logo on the side.  Just two colors.. 

Make use of silhouettes.  The White numbers pop against the green jerseys and vice versa.  Joe Namath and Kevin Arnold must both smile every time the Jets take the field.

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