An NFL Fashion Statement

Yesterday there were five NFL football games available for my viewing pleasure. The games were: Green Bay Packers vs. San Francisco 49ers, Chicago Bears vs. Detroit Lions, Oakland Raiders vs. San Diego Chargers, Dallas Cowboys vs. Indianapolis Colts and Baltimore Ravens vs. Pittsburgh Steelers. I watched all of the Packer game and portions of the other four.

Please don’t panic; I wasn’t watching football nonstop from noon and 10:30 pm – I took an hour off to watch the season finale of HBO’s Boardwalk Empire.

By watching all those games and seeing a multitude of highlights, I saw a plethora of different uniforms. And some were plain awful. A case in point, the Baltimore Ravens. Between the purple jerseys and black leotards masquerading as pants, I almost vomited in my mouth.

That bad taste inspired me to write about NFL fashion.

But because I have already chronicled my feelings on NFL uniforms in my 2009 blog, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, I had to go in a different direction, perhaps something more specific.

Today’s blog deals with the helmets the players wear. I have ranked all 32 team’s headgear along with a short comment. They are listed from worse to first. Note, whether I like or loath a team wasn’t a factor in my rankings. Well maybe just a little.


My Official NFL Helmet Rankings

32. Tennessee Titans – logo looks like it was drawn a by a sixth grader.
31. Buffalo Bills – give me the old standing buffalo any day.
30. Baltimore Ravens – is that Heckle or Jeckle with a “B” on its head?
29. Carolina Panthers – logo’s okay, but what’s with the stripes?
28. Jacksonville Jaguars – the logo doesn’t stand out at all.
27. Philadelphia Eagles – bad “wings”. Old helmet was much better.
26. Detroit Lions – an example of team messing up a once great helmet.
25. San Francisco 49ers – great if they hadn’t changed the logo.
24. Tampa Bay Buccaneers – one word. Pewter.
23. New England Patriots – give me the old helmet, it was a classic.
22. Denver Broncos – the stripe bothers me.
21. Seattle Seahawks – Mike Holmgren messed these up.
20. Cincinnati Bengals – sadly they are the best part of their uniforms.
19. Minnesota Vikings – why didn’t they leave the horn alone?
18. Atlanta Falcons – okay, but could use more contrast.
17. Miami Dolphins – didn’t need to add black to the design.
16. Washington Redskins – reverse the stripes and it's a classic.
15. Houston Texans – not bad for a newer team.
14. Pittsburgh Steelers – where’s the other logo? Symmetry, please.
13. New Orleans Saints – the first of the classics.
12. New York Jets – looks good whether it’s on Sanchez or Namath.
11. Oakland Raiders – one thing that Al Davis hasn’t screwed up. Yet.
10. St. Louis Rams – I prefer the “mustard” yellow to the gold, but hey…
9. San Diego Chargers – you got to love the bolts!
8. Cleveland Browns – understated, elegant and a great colors.
7. Arizona Cardinals – another example of less being more.
6. Chicago Bears – hurts to put the Bears in the top 10, but it’s a classic.
5. Kansas City Chiefs – great colors with a rugged arrowhead.
4. Indianapolis Colts – beautiful in its simplicity.
3. New York Giants – numbers on the front, the red, white and blue.
2. Dallas Cowboys – they don’t get much better than this one.
1. Green Bay Packers – Ever a doubt who would be number one?

By looking at this list you can probably tell that I am an old-school type of guy. I cringe every time a team (Lions, Vikings, Patriots, etc. please take note) “modernizes” a great looking helmet. I wish they would leave the classics alone.

Until next time…from the booth.