UniDiction: Week 9 - Eagles vs. Colts (Throwbacks!)

Ok.  So, 6-2 doesn't have the same ring as 7-1, but with a system this arbitrary, that's still pretty good, right?  Right?

Two really big uniform stories this week.  1) The Eagles will actually be wearing their "official" home uniform today for the first time this season. 2) The Colts will be wearing their 1955 throwbacks which are making their first regular season appearance.

And, oh yeah, it's no longer October, so the ridiculous pink breast cancer "awareness" gear will be gone- the NFL profits off the sale of that gear, yo.

UniDiction after the jump.

The UniDiction

Either 2, 3, 6, or 7 points awarded for each category (safety, field goal, touchdown, touchdown+point after)

Helmet

Eagles: 7 — This continues to be one of the best helmets in the league.

Colts: 7 — The solid Navy Blue is a good, rich color, but I'm divided about moving the horseshoes to the back of the helmet.  They're difficult to see in practice, BUT I think they're supposed to be the "this is what you see after the horse/colt runs you over."  I've awarded the Eagles points for their "functional" aspect of the helmet wings, so I'll give points for the "just ran you over" footprints on the Colts helmets.  We value attention to detail here at Crossing Broad.

Jersey

Eagles: 7 — Finally, half-way through the season, the Eagles will be wearing their "proper" home uniform set.  Midnight Green jerseys over White pants.  When fans think of the "post-Cunningham" Eagles, they're picturing the Midnight Green jerseys.  A unique, bold color, detailed strokes and drop shadows on the numbers, and nice use of logos on the sleeves and collar.

Colts: 3 — See, here's the thing with a team like the Colts wearing throwbacks.  Their normal uniforms are pretty much throwbacks.  Nothing against their classic normal uniforms, of course, but these throwbacks are pretty much identical except for having triple stripes on the shoulders/sleeves instead of double stripes. "Classic" doesn't necessarily mean "best," though, and their White jersey, whether the new throwback or their normal throwbacks-in-anything-but-name jerseys, are very unremarkable with their gigantic field of white with sparse use of color.  Thankfully the Colts have a "history of winning," so no one gets up in arms about their harmless uniforms.

Pants + Socks

Eagles: 6 — The White pants provide nice contrast with the solid green of the jersey, and instead of plain white, the thick Black ad Green stripes (with the pencil thin grey stripe) on the side of the pants gives them a slightly modern touch.  Black over White socks also break up the White from the pants 

Colts: 6 — See above about the "throwbackness" of the jerseys.  Today's pants replace the double stripe with a single super-wide stripe, and solid blue socks over white sanitaries are replaced with white socks with triple blue stripes.  I like them.  The thick blue stripes get rid of the plainness of the white pants, and the triple striped socks connect the bottom half of the uniform with the top half.

Intangibles

Eagles: 6 — The Eagles will finally be wearing their "real" home uniforms today.

Colts: 7 — It's a strong move for a team whose current uniform is pretty much a throwback to wear a special throwback which is more-or-less identical except for the helmet.  NOTE: I was tempted to add an additional 7 points to "Intangibles" based on "Peyton Manning will be wearing this uniform today," but I figured that would be philosophically unsound with respect to the purpose of this column.  You're welcome, professional journalists.

 Final Score

Eagles 26

Colts 23

Random, relevant uniform trivia:

The Colts wore blue pants for a few games in 1995.  That weird feeling you're getting when looking at these pictures is called cognitive dissonance.  The Colts shouldn't be wearing blue pants.... even if it's actually a pretty good look.

Comments

[Jon]

Regarding the Eagles' "'proper' home uniform set" ... My understanding is that, excluding any throwbacks, the Eagles wear white at home for the first 2-3 home games and then switch to green for the remaining home games. I've always thought they do this because white is cooler and thus more comfortable in warmer weather.

Glad the Birds won.

[Dan Fuller]

That's a good point, though unfortunately, it's not so cut-and-dry.

If you cross-reference the contents of the link below with the dates of the games, you'll see that the "white at home" games are generally earlier in the season (unless it's a Cowboys game - and they don't even follow that "tradition" every year). The issue is there's no rhyme or reason. Example: in 2009 and 2010 they didn't switch to Green at Home until November while in 2008 and 2004 they switched in October, and in 2000 and 2002 they never wore White at Home at all.

So, all that said, while I hid the word "proper" behind quotes as a cop-out, they "kind of" (more quotes) have an official home uniform.

Besides, the Green over White looks a lot better than White over Green!

Thanks for reading and sending in your comments.

Comprehensive White at Home in the NFL List (not yet updated for 2010):
http://www.uniwatchblog.com/research-projects/white-at-home-in-the-nfl/

[Jon]

Fascinating link -- thanks. Since the advent of midnight green it seems they have *by and large* worn white for 2-3 games like I said, but I'm not taking the time to verify whether it has always been in early season games.

I agree it's appropriate to think of green as their "proper" home color. I certainly prefer it that way.

I have no recollection of their wearing white at home for full seasons in the early '70s and late '80s. Bizarre. On the other hand, I fondly remember how they wore white in the 1980 NFC CG, forcing Dallas to wear the blue unis they hardly ever took out of their closet. :-)

[Dan Fuller]

Coincidentally, the "White at Home in the NFL" page was just updated today to include the first half of 2010. http://www.uniwatchblog.com/research-projects/white-at-home-in-the-nfl/

I'll say you're right on that the Eagles have worn the White at Home during warm weather games at the beginning of the season, it's just that there's no official kick-off date (bad pun) for the use of the Midnight Green jerseys. But without calling out the target of our fandom for irrational reasons (Dear Eagles, you're not wearing the "right" jerseys in my opinion), we wouldn't be real fans!

As always, thanks for the comment.

Oh yeah, I'm glossing over the fact that they won on Sunday against one of the best teams in the league!

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This was an age of innocence and happiness.