The Arizona Cardinals have new uniforms.
The good news is that they’ve finally dumped the outdated look with the panels down each side of the jersey and the black piping. The bad news is that the new uniforms are the last example of the gradual Nikefication of the NFL.
Yes, get off my lawn. Especially with those uniforms that claim to respect tradition but don’t.
These new uniforms look like they belong on a college team. Maybe the University of Arizona, since the home jersey has the word written on it in large letters. (As if the people attending the home games don’t know they’re in Arizona.)
One of the reasons teams like the Cowboys, Raiders, Packers, Steelers, and Chiefs are among the most popular in the league is that they have a good look, and they have stuck with it over the years. The most significant thing any of those teams has ever done with their primary uniforms happened in the mid-'90s, when the Steelers changed the shape of their numbers from the traditional block construction to something rounded, along with the placement of a Steelers logo on the upper left of the jersey, the same side where the team’s helmet has no decal.
The Bears, despite their chronic struggles, are an iconic franchise because they have an iconic look. The Colts have that stubbornly classic consistency, too.
Too many of the other teams feel compelled to chase relevance by changing their look, abandoning strong ties to the past in search of something that looks modern or slick or whatever. The Dolphins, the Eagles, the Vikings, the Rams, and the Buccaneers are among the teams that had great-looking uniforms before they felt compelled to roll out new colors and/or logos and/or jerseys and/or pants.
For the Cardinals, it’s not as glaring because their prior uniforms just weren’t good. But there’s nothing wrong with rewinding the clock to when they were. The Cardinals uniforms of days gone by were perfectly fine. It would be great to see one of these teams that allowed Nike to update and streamline and monetize and whatever else Nike has been trying to get all of them to do to say, “Sorry, but we’re going back to what we used to wear as our primary uniforms.”
The Cardinals had a chance to do that. Instead, like an increasing number of teams, their alternate uniforms seem better than their base uniforms. For any team experiencing that dynamic, it’s not as good of a thing as you think it is.
