The Lions Make A Perfect Panthers Uniform
The second of the major updates this year is the Detroit Lions!
This uniform update is a lot like the Jets update: a return to just looking like a classic NFL era uniform. There’s very little risk in the new Lions uniforms. They made the shoulder stripes into two horizontal grey stripes with a white outline, an improvement on the previous version with the LIONS written in the stripe, but also a regression to standard conventional stripes without any degree of anything new. It looks clean, it looks fine, outside losing the uniqueness I have no complaints. At least for the blue home jersey.
The white away jersey is just fine, except they have DETROIT written above the numbers. Again: leave that shit in college where it belongs. I shouldn’t need anything but the colors and design to tell me what team it is. We don’t need it. Get right of it. It would look better without it. Otherwise the away is fine.
The one I want to talk about the most is the alternate jersey.
First off: obligatory STOP MAKING BLACK ALTERNATES FOR FUCKS SAKE THE LIONS DO NOT NEED A BLACK ALTERNATE. I have a firm belief that unless black is a major part of your team’s color scheme (Ravens, Steelers, Raiders, Saints, Falcons, lesser extent Jags and Bengals), there is no reason to have a black alternate. Alternates should be weird experiments but they should still use the colors of the team. This black uniform was a replacement for the Lions grey alternates. Did I like the grey alternates they had? No. They work a little better with the old grey helmets over the blue ones, but they aren’t great. But you know what they weren’t? A fucking black alternate, the same as every other one. It was a fun goofy experiment and it still felt like the Lions. The new Lions alternate? It’s the Panthers!
Seriously. It’s a Panthers uniform. Look at it. It’s like the Lions beat the Panthers to their own redesign.
The blue helmet with the black logo of a large cat. The black stripes and the hints of grey. It’s a Panthers uniform. If the Panthers update (which they should, they are outdated), they could straight up just use this as a cheat sheet. It’s not even that bad as far as black alternates go…because it’s a better version of a team that actually uses this exact scheme for their current look. It’s not Lions. Nothing about it feels Lions. It’s the fucking Panthers. If I turn on a game and I see these uniforms playing I might genuinely be confused about which team is playing for a minute.
If you have to do an alternate with the Lions and make it black, it needs more grey involved. Grey numbers. a grey helmet. Grey stripes. More grey. No more Panthers.
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Black alternates were a Dan Campbell request and reward for winning the division.
https://www.nfl.com/news/dan-campbell-pushed-for-lions-black-alternate-jerseys-to-return
Oh look, another place where I disagree with “Man” Campbell.
But I’m fully with Dave. Stop making all black alternates for teams that don’t have black in the color scheme. Use your actual team colors for the alternates!
The Lions did have Silver numbers in the 70s when they started in the Silverdome.
They should go back to that.
Home Uniforms: 8/10
Away Uniforms: 7/10
Panthers rip-off Uniforms:0/10
Throwback: 10/10
“I LOVE the CLEVELAND written over the numbers. That looks badass and reminds me of college jerseys in a good way. I miss the era when jerseys would say where they were from and this looks fantastic to me. The Browns uniforms have always had this air of classic old school football to them (Which is why I liked them) and this change actually feels right at home with that vibe for me.”
— Dave, circa 2015
You’ve come around on the city names over numbers, huh?
All ways hated the name over numbers
I had to go back and check for myself that I actually wrote that and wow, I was way kinder to those uniforms than I remember feeling. Can’t recall ever liking that big word thing but I guess I did at some point. Maybe it was just new for me at the time
IMO they were the first major Nike redesign that wasn’t terrible (Jags, Bucs had just come out a little while before). Never should have been changed in the first place, but it was different anyways.
I also just realized I’ve been regularly reading your comics for almost 9 years now and I felt my hair turn gray.
It’s weird the things that jog your memory. I was trying to think when I started; I found Dave’s draft card used on a now-defunct Vikings blog called Purple Jesus Diaries (that aged like milk) and the guy didn’t attribute the artist. I liked the art style so I did an image search and it led me here. I was so intrigued by the idea of a football webcomic that I read the whole archive. That was 2014 and I’ve been here ever since.
I personally love them just wish they used a blue helmet one an all blue uniform. Panthers really need to ditch the grey helmet.
Hear me out. I think the best alt jerseys are the eagles blue and yellow and the Steelers bumblebees
And don’t forget the Broncos’ brown and yellow unis while we’re at it.
No I’m serious
Well, I mean at least the Steelers alternate is unique…
It’s only the best because I laugh every time I see my team with bumblebees.
Outside of teams with primary or secondary colors that are black, I have two criteria for determining if a team can reasonably have black alt jerseys.
A) Does the team look good with white jerseys and black pants. Not every team can pull this off. The Jags don’t have black as a primary color, but their away jerseys look really good with black pants…therefore, they are allowed to have black unis. The Eagles? They look a little odd with white jerseys and black pants. The black is almost too dusty? It also doesn’t help that their black has a lot of green in it so it swallows up their main color at times. Same with the new Jets ones….ergo….no black unis for the Ealges.
B) Does the team look like another team that DOES have black as a primary/secondary color and do their jerseys look not as good. The Cardinals look like the Falcons when they wear their blaak jerseys. It stinks because I actually like Larry Fitz in those old black jerseys, but they looked like the Falcons. The Commies look like bad Steelers. The Lions look like a knockoff of the Panthers. Just let sleeping dogs lie. If the Vikings ever came out with one, it’d look like they tried to rip off the Ravens.
Not every team can pull off a black jersey, and THAT’S OKAY. Stop trying to make fetch happen.
I don’t think anyone is going to have a hard time telling the 2024 Panthers and Lions apart even if they are wearing the exact t same uniforms.
People in general like the blacked out look on everything from sports uniforms, to cars, to video game characters, to tacti-cool gear, and just about anything else. It isn’t going away until it tests poorly/sells poorly with enough of a fan base. That is to say, get used to it for a good long time.
No mention of the historical significance of these uniforms mentioned once. Makes sense though as no has paid any attention to my Lions until last year. This is a nod to Dan Campbell’s days in Detroit and a personal request of his to bring them back if they won the division. Really cool story and the players get behind Campbell.
Dan has bad taste if this is what he signed off on though, the historical black alternate from his days with the team look much, much better. Grey pants, Grey helmets, it still looks like a Lions uniform and not a Panthers reboot
I’m pretty whatever about black alts since black at least fits with the vast majority of the league’s color schemes and usually looks good on a TV broadcast. The Lions still make some sense since they had black in their uniforms at one point and even had a black alt way back when Dan Campbell was a player (I couldn’t find a full pic of Dan in these – https://news.sportslogos.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Lions-alt-2016-f.png).
Admittedly, most of why I feel this way is because no team can possibly do it any worse than whatever the 49ers were thinking back when the color rush uniforms first dropped. Might be the worst alternate uniforms OAT, all things considered.
I understand the point about incessant black alternates but I would kill for a smooth black giants kit and it would be much more appealing than if the big reds were to ever make a return.